3: Sequel: The Platinum Hero vs. the Fairy Princess’s Bodyguards

It was a short letter, written with great craftiness and excessively fine stationery.

The emotion drained from Dale’s face the moment that he read it.

That was only for an instant though, and Dale turned to Kenneth (who had handed him the paper) with his usual strained smile. Then, he flung that elegantly written letter down atop the counter.

“Those old-timers sure do have free time on their hands... Now they’ve gone and played a prank like this, huh?”

Dale had been acquainted with the shop’s regulars for quite some time now. And having known them for so long, he decided this was just a joke and there was no point in getting angry.

He was also aware that they prized Latina above all else. Just like him, they had watched over her since she was young and valued her happiness more than anything. And so, he could firmly state that no matter what sort of prank this may be, Latina herself wouldn’t be in any danger.

Plus, since he was dealing with those old-timers, Dale didn’t want to be criticized by Latina as being some immature, petty man.

“Well, I’m sure it’s just a practical joke,” Kenneth replied, not seeming the least bit concerned.

Kenneth had received the letter announcing Latina’s kidnapping directly from regulars he was well acquainted with. Once the culprits had announced themselves clearly, it couldn’t be seen as anything but a prank.

On top of that, the regulars who admitted to the crime had also added, “We’ll be sure to escort the little lady back in time for her night shift.” If the kidnappers were politely acknowledging her work schedule, it was hard to feel any sense of urgency about the situation.

“Latina’s aware that they dote on her, too... So even if they came to her with their cards laid on the table, she probably couldn’t turn them down, right?”

“Well, to Latina, those old-timers are almost like relatives...”

Latina had no strong bonds with her blood relatives, so even if they weren’t actually related, those old-timers who spent each day watching over her since her childhood were special to her.

Considering that relationship, Latina must have gone along with their request.

They would talk things over with one another properly... That was the promise that Dale and Latina had made.

He couldn’t imagine that Latina would break that promise lightly. Right now Latina was surely at a complete and utter loss, being stuck between Dale and the regulars.

“Well... It shouldn’t be too hard to search for her, and then I’ll just slug the ringleader once or twice...” Dale said in a joking tone, giving his arm a warmup spin.

It was precisely then, with such perfect timing that both Dale and Kenneth couldn’t help but question if it had been planned, that a single youth strolled into the Ocelot.

“Pardon me.”

Despite looking a bit hesitant when faced by such glares from Dale and Kenneth, the youth pulled a sealed letter out of his moss green shoulder bag.

“I have a delivery for Sir Dale Reki.”

The insignia of a letter with wings on his shoulder bag denoted that he was a carrier for the largest postal delivery service around.

“Um... I’m Dale Reki.”

“Right, then could I have you sign here?”

The young postal carrier held out a receipt after handing over the letter. The receipt was affixed to a board, and he offered a pen that was uniquely designed so you could carry it around, all so that a delivery could be made anywhere. All of those elements just served as further proof of the young man’s occupation.

Dale signed the receipt, and with that the youth departed with a businesslike smile.

With that, both Dale and Kenneth’s gazes naturally fell upon the sealed letter.

“Where is it from...?”

“Huh? This wax seal is...”

There was a single insignia pressed into the wax sealing the letter. The design looked simple at first glance, but actually incorporated a number of fine details, making it exceedingly difficult to forge. Dale was well aware of that fact.

With that, the person who could use this insignia soon came to mind and Dale’s expression naturally grew stiff.

“That old hag is wrapped up in this, too...?!”

Amongst the people of his home village, only the clan leader was permitted to use that insignia.

And from what Dale knew, that person was exceptionally fond of pranks.

“No, it might just be a coincidence, right?” Kenneth commented uncertainly.

Kenneth had been acquainted with Dale’s grandmother Wendelgard back when he was still an active adventurer. She saw something in him and entrusted him with Dale, and in the process, Kenneth didn’t simply witness her talent and propensity for messing around, he’d had it positively seared into his mind.

With neither of them able to wipe away their doubt and Kenneth’s gaze wandering, Dale went ahead and opened the letter. Despite his sharp tongue, he was actually quite careful when opening the envelope. He took out the contents, gave it a glance over, and then thoroughly furrowed his brows.

“What is it?”

“It says to hurry up and get myself over there... And she hints at the debt I owe them from back then...” Dale muttered, an unpleasant expression on his face.

His family had lent him quite a bit of aid while he was running about the world looking for the demon lords. And because he knew just how important their help had been, Dale could hardly refuse her demands.

Normally, it would take him nearly a month to return home, and he would also need the duke’s permission. And so, it certainly wasn’t something that could just be done on a whim. But Dale had long since become a being unbound by the limits of common sense and could make it back there in a few days, a fact both his grandmother and father were well aware of. He figured that was why she had made the request so lightly.

At the same time, Dale wasn’t able to tell the duke the reason behind him taking such abnormal actions. So in that case, it was simplest to just handle the matter in secret.

“Ugh...”

Above all else, though, Dale was unable to ignore his grandmother’s letter because of the reason she wanted him to return.

“Apparently she wants me to visit for a bit to confirm some things for the wedding.”

“Well, that’s a good thing. Is it alright for Latina not to go?”

“Both the ceremony and the preparations will be at my family home. Latina can just get the details when the time comes, and besides, I can’t exactly have her make a sudden climb over the mountains like that...”

“That doesn’t just go for Latina. Even experienced adventurers wouldn’t want to do that. Heck, I wouldn’t want to do it.”

“Yeah.”

There was a rugged mountain range that stretched between Kreuz and Tislow. There wasn’t even anything that could be called a proper animal trail there, nor anywhere to get a decent bit of rest. That was the sort of intense path he was being asked to tread. No matter how hardy the devil race may have been, there was no chance of him asking Latina to make such a journey.

And on the Tislow side of things, their eldest son had finally found himself a bride, so there was no way they would force her to push herself like that.

They thought nothing of it when it came to Dale, though. That much was quite clear.

“If the wedding ends up getting delayed, then that’s just what happens... And besides, I know she wanted to have it in a season with nice weather...”

There had been a late snowfall when Chrysos was staying in Kreuz, but it was already heading into early spring, the season when lots of folks started traveling to the capital and whatnot. If they continued to delay it, though, the time of year when it was nice out would pass them by in no time. His home village was in a region that got a lot of snow, after all.

“There’s no helping it, so I’ll have to end this farce as soon as possible and then have a word with Latina...”

“How about just going?” Kenneth asked, as a neutral party who could understand the feelings of both sides. He knew what was going through Dale’s head, but he could also see the sentiments of those responsible for this commotion, plain as day.

“I’ll talk things through with Latina. So why don’t you get away from here for a bit and give those fools a chance to cool their heads?”

Dale didn’t say a word in response to Kenneth’s proposal, and the emotion drained from his face once again.

Dale’s glare caused a shiver to run down Kenneth’s spine. His whole body trembled a bit, faced with an instinctive fear surpassing that of any hopeless situation he’d found himself in back when he was an active adventurer.

But at the same time, Kenneth felt truly astounded from the depths of his heart.

“Seriously... Just how dependent on Latina are you...?”

Dale let out a foolish Bpfh! sound, then said, “W-W-Wha... What... What are you saying...?!”

The bloodlust in the air scattered to the four winds.

Apparently Kenneth had hit the nail on the head.

Dale was so shaken that he grew openly embarrassed and started acting strangely, with his face turning beet red for a second. There was no hint of the fiend from a moment ago who had been mercilessly exposing even his friend of many years to such bloodlust.

“I could understand you getting that way when Latina went missing, but... Should you really be getting so serious about a mere prank like this?”

When she had been suddenly stolen away, it wasn’t even certain if she was still alive. It was only natural that Dale would go mad with rage, as he loved the girl more than anyone and anything. But with that said, it would be rather ridiculous to talk about this current incident in the same manner. Doing so would surely prompt the fallen demon lords to turn in their graves.

“That’s... Well, yeah, I guess...” Dale inarticulately agreed, apparently plenty aware of that fact.

“You’re just mad because you’re getting less lovey-dovey time with Latina, aren’t you...?”

“That sure is a blunt way of putting things.”

“But it’s the truth. Sugarcoating it wouldn’t change anything.”

Hearing that, Dale ruffled his own hair. Seeing that gesture of embarrassment from the hero, Kenneth gave a single sigh and loosened the tension that had built up in his shoulders without him noticing.

“You need to cool your head, too. Then you can face this stupid mess head on.”

“You sure are taking their side...”

“Considering who they picked a fight with, doesn’t hurt to give them that much of a handicap, right?”

As they talked, the edge completely came off of Dale. Kenneth felt relieved, seeing that his “little brother” was finally back to his usual self, and it wasn’t just for show. But it was also true that at the same time, he felt astounded. I mean, there was a limit to how deplorable someone could be.

“A stupid mess, huh... Well, doing something so stupid on such a huge scale is one way to throw a party, I guess...” Dale remarked lightly, apparently having allayed his anger enough that he could even find some amusement in the situation.

It would be a big dumb serious mess, with a whole ton of professionals having at it, including a certain legendary hero. He didn’t seem to be taking into consideration the fact that if they made the town the stage for this, it would result in a chaotic uproar.

“Guess there’s no helping it... Well, for the time being, I guess I’ll go make sure the old hag isn’t mixed up in all this. Let Latina know, alright?”

“Yeah. And if push comes to shove I can always just send Vint after you.”

That pup was seriously way too capable.

With a smile on his face, Dale stood up from the chair and went up to the attic to gather his luggage.

It was likely due to the fact that he had calmed himself down that Dale ultimately decided to head out right away. After all, he was aware that if he saw even a glance of Latina he would take back everything he said, lose control of himself, and stop at nothing to have her back in his arms.

After Dale departed for his home village, Latina really did end up returning before the night shift.

“Huh? Dale did that?” Latina asked upon hearing of Dale’s sudden summons from Kenneth, a sad expression on her face.

Normally, the quoted time estimate of going there and back within a week would be called utterly impossible.

“I wasn’t able to see him off properly... Was he mad?”

“Well, I guess I’d call it a mix of angry and astonished,” Kenneth replied.

Latina looked around at the regulars, pouting a bit.

From looking at her, it seemed she really hadn’t expected Dale to have suddenly departed for his home village.

“I was told to keep all sorts of stuff secret from Dale, but... Even so, I at least wanted to discuss with him as much as I could. I never expected him to just leave like that...” Latina said, her shoulders slumping.

It seemed that she was taken away by the regulars without any explanation, but then was told that she could go back to the Ocelot for work, where she figured she could talk things over with Dale. She had been rather optimistic, thinking that if she at least made it clear where she would be, he wouldn’t worry all that much.

Normally Latina’s understanding of things wasn’t that far divorced from common sense. But she actually didn’t know that the regulars had sent a letter declaring their crime to Dale. As far as she knew, they were setting up to surprise Dale, and she was just helping. Plus she was told that Kenneth and Dale had been told in advance that she would be sleeping overnight elsewhere.

It was more than a small misunderstanding of the matter, but still, something far beyond what Latina expected was now unfolding.

“So what are those idiots planning, anyway?”

“I was told they wanted to persuade Dale. I don’t really know of what or how, though...”

She had gotten wrapped up in something she didn’t properly understand, but Latina somehow looked like she was enjoying herself.

Seemingly noticing Kenneth’s quizzical look, Latina shot him a troubled looking smile.

“They just seemed like they were having so much fun that I just couldn’t tell them no...”

“Well, I’m sure their knowledge of that personality of yours is part of the reason they were willing to go ahead with it.”

“If they were putting Dale in danger I’d definitely be opposed, but... it doesn’t seem like that. When I see the customers having so much fun, I can’t help but think Dale would enjoy himself, too...”

“And so you let yourself get taken?”

Latina’s strained smile grew just a little bit wicked.

“And also, I started enjoying myself a bit, too.”

In that manner, the prank continued to grow in scope.

†

At this point the weather in Kreuz was often hot enough to leave any pedestrian a sweaty mess, but it was still mid-spring in Tislow, where the seasons were slow to change.

Gentle sunlight streamed in upon the complex patterns on the rug. The little old lady whose room it was drew over the tobacco tray and stuffed her pipe in a practiced motion.

“It’s not that hot here compared to how it is over there. If we start preparing now, we could hold the wedding ceremony before summer hit its peak.”

Wendelgard had already lived longer than most, but she treated Dale in just as aloof and easygoing a manner as always.

Dale was aware that his grandmother was in all likelihood offering the regulars support for their big dumb plan. After all, she found such things a source of personal amusement. It would really be stranger for her not to be involved.

She was acting too normally, as she puffed away at her pipe, for him to be entirely sure though.

“Just what are you plotting, calling me out here all of a sudden?”

“How accusatory. Rather than making such claims, perhaps you should dedicate that energy to wedding preparations already?”

“I’ve been thinking about that, too...”

“If I left it all up to you, I’d kick the bucket long before I got to see Latina dressed as a bride,” Granny Wen said, pointing to a Tislow bridal outfit that had been passed down through generations and was now sitting in the corner of her room. “It’ll take more than just a day or two to get that fixed up for her. It took some time for you to work up your nerves, too, and then you’ve been dragging your heels ever since.”

“I have not been dragging my heels.”

He may have been the hero of an epic, but it seemed he was still just a cheeky grandchild as far as Wendelgard was concerned.

“Dale, just a rough estimate is fine, but do you know Latina’s height?”

“Huh...? I guess she’s a bit shorter than Frida.”

“What about her shoulder width?”

“She’s got a smaller build...” Dale replied, getting caught up a little in his mother Magda’s momentum as she measured the outfit and thought on the matter.

She seemed to be getting the idea from the way that Dale’s hands were moving all around as he talked about Latina.

“It seems like it would be good to bring this part in quite a bit, doesn’t it? She seems rather slender, after all.”

“What about here?”

“Shall we try trimming it a bit? Ah, but I believe we need to be careful about bringing the bodice in too much.”

The plan was to boldly pull in the skirt around her waistline, while only shortening the shoulder width of the upper portion.

Perhaps it was just what one should expect of Dale’s mother, but Magda sensed from her son’s hand motions alone just what a stylish girl Latina had grown to become. She realized not only was the girl slim overall, but also that certain parts of her had indeed grown quite thoroughly.

“Mother, I’ll handle this part, so could you take care of the sash?”

“Alright. And then, could you talk to Yorck about making arrangements?”

Dale’s sister-in-law, Frida, wasn’t born in Tislow. As a result she didn’t know about the traditions related to such attire, so she ultimately left the tricky parts up to Magda.

When he thought on how his mother and sister-in-law were doing that needlework for his bride to be, a look of embarrassment flashed across Dale’s face.

“Looks like we’ll need some adjustments for you, too. I didn’t think you could get any bigger,” Magda said with a bit of an astonished sigh as she looked at Dale’s upper arms. Dale’s height was still the same as when he had brought Latina to visit back home, but his overall build had grown even more robust. She also got the feeling that he had come to resemble his father, which was a bit of a strange feeling.

“You don’t need to do all that for me...” Dale stated bluntly, trying to cover up his embarrassment.

“You always say stuff like that. But you don’t want to look shabby in front of your own bride, right?” Magda cut him off, seeing right through him.

He had taken advantage of his title of the most fearsome of heroes in the past, but even his confidence wavered when faced with the women of his family.

“We’ll take care of preparations on our end, so make sure the bride is good and ready, too,” Granny Wen said with a grin and a thin puff of smoke, looking just like a mischievous child.

With that Dale’s exchange with his grandmother had concluded, and his mother had taken charge of adjusting the outfit, plus his measurements had been taken, so Dale wanted to head right on back to Kreuz, but he couldn’t.

“So, how did it go?”

Those brief words had come from Dale’s father, who was the effective clan head despite Granny Wen still holding the title on paper.

The letter to Dale had also said that if he was coming home, he should also bring back the magical devices presented to Vassilios as examples. Randolph’s brief question referred to that matter.

“Right... Well I already let you know via my letter, but I presented her with a magical device decorated with zoisite. Apparently over there the general process is to just polish things into spheres and then line them up. And so, she had an interest in the cutting process itself.”

“I see.”

“I also asked about the minerals naturally present in Vassilios, but... Well, I’ll write it all out in a report, later. I’m busy with some stuff myself right now.”

“Hmm... By the way...” Randolph started, turning his attention back away from the magic devices. “I figured you would say you were going to buy them all up as presents for the little miss, but did none of them catch her eye?”

Dale looked annoyed at his father’s words.

It felt like his old man had seen right through him, but that was no real surprise, as Dale was incredibly easy to read where Latina was involved.

Dale had figured buying it all up would be a good plan, but true to her exceptionally frugal view of money, Latina refused.

She was well aware of Dale’s personality, and knew full well that her adopted father/fiance doted on her so greatly that any question of price flew out the window. Plus ever since she was little, she was never the type to ask for unnecessary gifts. And so, this time around she ultimately just accepted one of them, in order to form a matching pair with her sister.

“She’ll be your daughter-in-law soon, so isn’t it a little odd to be calling her ‘little miss’?” Dale asked to annoy his father, getting revenge for how all-knowing the man had just been acting.

“Hrmm... Would it be alright to just call her by her name...?” Randolph questioned, looking troubled.

She may have been his daughter-in-law to be, but Latina was still a good bit younger than his son. It already made him feel somehow bashful, referring to her as “daughter.” And he had already sensed a portion of it to some degree when she was young, but she had an elegant beauty about her fitting to her position as the princess of a neighboring country. It was no surprise someone living out in the sticks like him would feel somehow intimidated.

Even ignoring the fact that his son was a country boy, the idea of him marrying a princess seemed unimaginable, so he had been ignoring it for the time being. He really was Dale’s father and Granny Wen’s son, to have taken such a route.

“If you go acting weirdly nervous, it’ll make Latina nervous too...”

His father and bride nervously talking formally to one another... It was definitely easy to imagine that happening. Well, he actually did kind of want to see it a little, though...

Those were the thoughts running through Dale’s head at the moment.

“...If I said I wanted to buy them all, would you have offered me a discount as a wedding gift?”

“With your finances, I figured you wouldn’t mind adding a little extra on for the sake of your folks.”

“That’s what I thought you’d say,” Dale replied with his usual awkward smile, seeing that his father’s response had been just as expected.

By the way, the magical device presented to Chrysos was given as a gift from Tislow, but the matching one for Latina was paid for out of Dale’s pocket. If Latina had known that she would have flatly refused, so Dale sent the payment back home on the sly.

But with that said, it was also a very simple matter, as Dale just wanted the gift for the girl he loved most of all to be from him. That was all there was to it.

†

“Now then...”

Ultimately, Dale’s stay in his home village exceeded his expectations, so by the time he made it back to Kreuz, nearly half a month had passed.

In addition to writing up a report, he also had to take care of various preparations for the wedding ceremony, which certainly added up. He also had a feeling he may have been taking on some responsibilities involved with leading the clan, but he opted to write that off as just his imagination.

Thanks to his pilgrimage to annihilate the demon lords the chaos in neighboring countries was dying down, so he went ahead and took it easy-assuming the duke wouldn’t be calling on him anytime soon.

He still chose to force his way through the mountains on the way back, though.

He certainly couldn’t take the same path there with Latina in tow, but another leisurely trip back to his home village with her certainly sounded nice. In fact, he thought taking a while to travel around with her might not be half bad.

“First I’ll have to go get Latina back, though,” Dale muttered, turning his attention towards his left hand.

His name as a retainer of the Eighth Demon Lord was displayed there, serving as proof of his bond with his beloved “master.”

“They’ll know that I’m looking for Latina, but they won’t know how...”

They would probably set up diversions and also spread false information throughout Kreuz. Normally, such methods would be very effective.

As he was now, though, Dale didn’t need to gather information, as he could more or less sense where she was through their connection.

With that said, a surprise attack could still prove tricky... Dale thought to himself while walking in the direction he sensed Latina’s presence from.

A certain high-powered radar of a pup was assuredly helping out on their side like it was only obvious to do so. They must have known by now that Dale had left his home village and was heading their way.

“Well, it’ll be a big dumb mess. It’s only polite to crush them fair and square,” Dale said, giving his arm a preparatory spin as he headed to rescue the captured princess in the western district.

It was a little bit distorted, but Kreuz was built in the shape of a cross, just as its name implied. And the districts in each of the four cardinal directions had their own unique traits. The eastern district was a crafting district with shops and homes for craftsmen, while the southern district where the Dancing Ocelot was located was a rougher part of town with many facilities aimed at travelers. The center of town held temples as well as the local lord’s manor and other buildings that served to govern, and the northern district contained residences for nobles and other elites.

And then there was the eastern district, which held high class residences second only to those of the northern district.

That wasn’t to say that the district held no relevance to professional adventurers like Dale. There were a number of successful adventurers, such as the famous Sylvester, who owned residences there.

And those successful adventurers were also regulars of the Ocelot. That was a fact, even if they just looked like old timers drinking cheap booze and gambling with cards in the middle of the day. It certainly wasn’t something you could tell at a glance.

Dale figured that meant that this big dumb mess was set to unfold at one of their homes. After all, those old timers doted endlessly on Latina, so there was no chance they would make Latina stay in some filthy deserted house.

I get the feeling Latina would end up enjoying that, though...

Knowing Latina, she would have probably spent the last half month polishing up and renovating the place. He could easily see her diligently pushing around a mop and painting away at the walls. And that image in his mind looked a whole lot happier than when she was living as a princess. As those thoughts ran through his head, a grin broke out across Dale’s face.

There wasn’t any sense of urgency about him in the least.

He ended up stopping in front of one such residence.

It was a real manor, far larger than anything from the southern or eastern districts. It had a vast front garden beyond the high walls surrounding the grounds, and a brilliant large red roof could be seen further in, hinting at the size of the place.

More than all that, though, Dale’s focus was on the large number of presences he sensed from the other side of the wall.

From the wry laughing he could hear, it would seem that his opponents had no intention of trying to hide.

As he had predicted, they were there laying in wait for him.

He didn’t reach for his blade, as this was ultimately still just a “game.”

Dale passed through the gate and set foot into the vast garden.

He may have been the unannounced intruder here, but even so, a large mass of masked men with ferocious smiles leapt at him. The group all had on sacks over their heads, with holes only cut out for the eyes. And in each of their hands, they held a long pole or club. They may not have had any blades on them, but they seemed plenty capable of killing.

“Hold on...! This is just way too much!” Dale yelled out. That wasn’t because his opponents were wielding deadly weapons while he was unarmed, though. “What sort of suspicious characters are you supposed to be?!”

Dale (the actual intruder here) was unable to hold back that quip because nearly half of those “suspicious characters” were wearing the uniforms of the guards, who were supposed to be the ones cracking down on suspicious characters in the first place.

The other half had a mishmash of different outfits and gear, but it was easy to assume that they were adventurers.

It had already been plenty simple to guess at their members just from the name they had sent the notice of their crime under.

It was hard to tell if they were better described as having their faces hidden, or as having all but their faces plain to see. But at any rate, it sure did make them look awful suspicious.

Meanwhile, the side who had launched the attack was now hesitating.

The instant Dale stepped onto the grounds, the group waiting off to the side threw a net at him, just as they had planned. At the same time, the first unit struck out at him with their weapons. Even if he knew they were there, it simply wouldn’t be possible to avoid such an all-out assault with such a limited choice of ingress.

Or at least, that was how it was supposed to be.

And yet, they had lost sight of Dale. The net which had lost its target fell upon the earth completely empty, and the swung weapons smacked into the hard ground.

They all specialized in combat, too. But that skill of theirs was precisely what told them that they had misjudged their opponent’s strength this time around.

A normal human could never easily jump more than the height of a grown man without so much as a run-up.

They had been unable to properly predict this deplorable hero’s movements precisely because they had been operating under the assumption that their opponent was a human.

The attackers only realized their mistake when Dale counterattacked, kicking them down from outside of their encirclement.

Dale had realized they were laying in wait, so after entering into the grounds and confirming what course of action they were taking, he moved to evade the net before it was even thrown. The extraordinary power he had obtained by becoming a demon had a huge effect on his jumping power and the instantaneous force he could produce. Just a single step of run-up to go flying with his dominant foot was enough to get him around behind his opponents. He then landed safely, and wrapped it up by landing a kick on the masked man at the end of the line.

He had kicked him a bit hard, but he was considerate enough to aim for the man’s rear, so as not to rupture any internal organs. It simply wouldn’t do to have someone end up dead from a ‘game’ like this. Latina would end up crying, after all.

That didn’t mean his opponent came out of the exchange unharmed, though. In fact, Dale had made the decision that anything went as long as he didn’t deal a fatal blow. They were the ones running the thing, after all. And he had enough faith in them to just assume they had personnel who could use healing magic waiting in the wings.

Next up, he tripped several folks at once, sending them tumbling. At the same time, the first man he had kicked went flying into the front group, unable to stop his momentum. That didn’t cause as much chaos as expected, though. Instead, they soon caught sight of Dale and got back in position. That wasn’t a bad decision. They really were well-coordinated, considering the group was of mixed backgrounds.

The corners of Dale’s mouth turned up ever so slightly.

Kreuz’s youngsters aren’t half bad. That’s good to see, Dale thought to himself, and then gave a strained smile when he realized he had started thinking similarly to those old timers at some point.

He grabbed the arm of a nearby youth and swept his legs, knocking him over. Then, feeling mischievous, he went ahead and easily lifted up a large man with his hands. It actually went surprisingly smoothly, as the man panicked when he was lifted and froze in a position that made him easier to handle.

While, I guess that’s no surprise, since you don’t usually ever find yourself in that position, Dale casually thought, then he went and chucked his poor victim. This was his first time using a human being as a projectile, too.

He found the somewhat inhumane act rather enjoyable, so he got carried away and ended up throwing a couple more people.

The staves swinging his way from all sides were being wielded with some rather skilled teamwork, but he dodged them by getting down low and closing the distance between them, even though he could have just knocked them away with his gauntlet. While listening to the sound of wood clashing overhead, he struck out with the palm of his hand. Then he turned around with a kick, snapping his opponent’s weapon and sending yet another man flying.

In that way, the literally inhuman deplorable hero demonstrated to all present just why he was considered a legend. It was like something out of a nightmare, as if they were being torn to shreds one after another. Ah, there went another giant of a man flying through the air.

Even with all the masked assailants strewn groaning across the grounds, Dale wasn’t even winded. Considering the number of opponents he was up against, he had mown them down so thoroughly you could call it a near instantaneous defeat.

After looking around to confirm that none of them were up for continuing, Dale placed his hand on the door to the manor. It didn’t appear to be locked. At first he suspected some sort of trap, but then he considered it from the perspective of his opponents. Dale didn’t possess any lockpicking skills, so his only option for dealing with a locked door was to destroy it, which he would do without mercy.

Surely, the homeowner would want to avoid that. This was a rather splendid manor, after all. The repair cost for such an elaborate door was sure to be massive, and there was no way the owner would be happy having their home left wide open until it had been repaired.

Even if it was a trap, Dale had no choice at this point but to open the door.

His decisive confidence was exemplary of the epic hero he was, but at any rate, he went ahead and stepped into the manor.

The door opened with a thud that was somehow unfittingly gentle for the situation, only for sighs of relief to erupt from all around. And the source of one of those sighs sprawled out on the ground, removing his mask. His natural red hair was stuck to his forehead with sweat, so he roughly brushed it out of the way.

“We didn’t even so much as scratch him...” one of the other men muttered, removing his mask.

“Owww... Are you alright?” the redheaded youth asked back listlessly, forcing himself to sit up. He hurt all over, not just where he was hit in the back.

“Somehow, after having come this far, it kinda just makes me want to laugh.”

“Yeah... That guy was seriously a monster...”

Apparently they weren’t the only ones feeling that way, as a number of the others gave similarly listless smiles.

Despite the fact they had used a net and other such relentless weapons, and had an overwhelming advantage in terms of numbers, their opponent had walked away unharmed. To really rub in his advantage, he wasn’t even using a weapon.

“I wanted to at least slug him once, that’s all...”

“That sort of display really makes you feel like giving up, doesn’t it?”

His shoulders slumped all on their own. Still, somehow his own voice hadn’t sounded quite as pathetic as he had expected.

There were quite a few amongst the members of Fairy Princess Protection Committee who were Latina’s age who had held romantic feelings towards Latina.

It was no exaggeration to call her a drop-dead beauty, and as the proud adorable waitress of the Ocelot, she always greeted the customers with a kind, brilliant smile. And the fact that she would occasionally start joyfully humming out of tune or acting a bit airheaded showed that she wasn’t the sort to put on airs.

It was like having a sort of extraordinary idol who they were all familiar with.

There was no way folks wouldn’t end up falling for and admiring her.

Those youths then ended up getting fired up for this whole big stupid mess by the old timers who ran the Bodyguards.

In turn, that resulted in a “Who can slug Dale one?” challenge.

With that said, the regulars of the Ocelot had more or less planned all that out.

That deplorable hero would get all lovey-dovey with Latina whenever he saw the opportunity, regardless of where they may be or who may be watching. It was a truly insensitive way to behave, with no thought given to the heartbroken men left shedding manly tears in the background.

There were more than a few folks out there who wanted to land at least one solid hit on him, so the result was really no surprise.

There was also clearly a hidden fount of admiration within the hearts of the youths participating, with them clearly wanting the chance to take on a hero whose legend would be told well into the future. The old timers who got them fired up didn’t bother pointing that out, though.

In fact, those old fogeys may have even tried to get them ever more worked up instead, telling them to go ahead and hit him because it was going to be a big dumb mess anyway.

This all resulted in a blatant demonstration of the difference in their strengths, but since they were aware of the underhanded means they’d used, the attackers couldn’t even be mad about it. And at the same time, they also couldn’t help feeling a bit relieved that their admiration for Dale was far from misplaced.

“Haah...” the redheaded youth sighed once again, then looked around.

The next time he saw her he’d have to congratulate her, no matter what he may really be feeling.

“So he’s an opponent I can never overcome my whole life long... Well, maybe that won’t be so bad.”

There wasn’t even a hint of gloom on the young man’s face as he realized the man whose back he had been desperately chasing since he was young was still somewhere far off in the distance.

With that, he and his comrades who had all wanted to land a blow on Dale picked their wounded bodies up and set about withdrawing from the place.

Meanwhile, Dale advanced into the manor and found that it was every bit as exquisite on the inside as you would expect from the outside. Even the atrium in the entry hall alone gave a rather high-class impression.

The cream-colored striped wallpaper, reddish brown wooden furniture, and nonchalantly placed works of art all seemed first rate even to someone like Dale, who had a refined sense of aesthetics and was welcome at the manor of the duke, foremost of the Labandese nobles. The decor even lacked the gaudy ornamentation one would expect from an upstart’s estate.

It was hard to imagine this manor belonged to someone related to those old timers who guzzled down cheap booze at that bar.

Of course Dale himself lived in the attic of that very bar despite his impressive standing and fortune, but as always he was blind to such personal matters.

At the front of the entrance hall there stood stairs leading to the next floor. There were elaborately engraved doors off to the left and right, colored so as to match the other furnishings.

Dale stopped in place, wondering which way to go, only for the left door to swing open as if it had been waiting for that very moment.

“Hehehe...” an unnatural chuckle sounded out, and when Dale was wondering who it was coming from, he was completely caught off guard. Or to be more accurate, he looked flat out astounded.

“What are you doing in a place like this...?”

“Hehehe...”

“Woof woof woof...”

Theodore, heir to the Dancing Ocelot where Dale lived, was there riding atop Vint and wielding a stick. The daring smile on his face was honestly kind of annoying, but the self-satisfied look on the face of the pup he was riding was even worse.

“You’re never gonna stop me, even swinging around something like—” Dale started to say, only for Theo to point overhead with his stick.

“Emma’s in danger!”

“Woof!”

“...Huh?”

As Dale stood there flabbergasted, Theo took off, riding on Vint’s back. Unsurprisingly considering Vint’s mobility, in the moment it took for Dale to come back to his senses, Theo had disappeared through the door that had apparently been reopened at some point.

“What the heck are they thinking...?” Dale muttered, looking back in the direction Theo had pointed. The hall that the staircase looked out on had an atrium, so Dale could see all the way to the ceiling. Even the molding on the steps and railings had a simple elegance to it. The skylight was brilliantly designed with the crossbeams radiating outwards, and there were two slender legs dangling in front of that backdrop.

It was then that Dale remembered the name that Theo had mentioned.

“...”

Now that he had remembered, he couldn’t just ignore the matter. And so, he dashed up the stairs, spun around, and took off running towards where he had seen the legs dangling.

“That little punk...!” Dale cursed, since just as expected, those legs indeed belonged to Theo’s little sister, Emma. The young girl had been sitting on the other side of the railing, and was now looking up at Dale like she didn’t quite understand what was going on.

Apparently Theo had at least taken some thought as to what may happen to his sister, as there were several strands wrapped around Emma’s body, securing her to the railing. However, that was ultimately just childish naivete, as from an adult’s point of view she was still in a great deal of danger.

“Emma, does anything hurt?”

“Hmm... Butt?”

“Ah... Yeah, the floor sure is hard. And it’s cold, too, so you’re probably chilly.”

Putting aside the matter of Theo, young Emma had done nothing wrong. And so, Dale called out to her in a gentle tone as he reached for the knife at his hip.

“I’ll cut you loose, so just hold still for a bit...”

Dale decided that he needed to cut her free as he couldn’t just leave her there, but then he noticed just what those “strands” really were.

“That punk...” Dale cursed again, as he realized that the “strands” tying Emma in place were really Latina’s beloved ribbons.

Even if he did cut them, Latina probably wouldn’t be angry if he explained the circumstances. But if any of her favorites happened to be mixed in, she would be seriously disappointed.

Dale was, naturally, the sort of guy who couldn’t accept seeing Latina make a face like that.

“Uuuuuugh...!”

As a result, Dale found himself struggling with the messy knots that Theo had made. It was a complex tangle combining both basic and granny knots, and Dale was extremely tempted to just tear them apart with brute force.

He also had to pay an increasing amount of attention to keeping Emma from falling as he removed the ribbons.

“Gotta wee-wee.”

“Whoa, that’s getting way too relaxed there...! Just hold on a little longer!”

Dale lifted Emma up and realized that he had fallen for yet another of Theo’s plots. The crux of the plan was the fact that he had retreated atop Vint.

“Damn...”

If Theo was still around, Dale could have pushed Emma off onto him. But right now, Dale was the only one around.

It would be far too dangerous to leave little Emma on her own in an unfamiliar place. And since he could easily be attacked again like before at any moment, he wanted to avoid bringing her along with him.

Above all else, though, Emma was currently struggling with an emergency situation that was getting worse by the moment.

“Theo... I’m going to scold you till you cry later...!”

“Later?” Emma innocently mimicked as Dale held her tight.

The solution Dale settled on was a full-on sprint to take Emma back to the Dancing Ocelot.

Theo had done a splendid job of using the means available to him to successfully delay the most fiendish of all heroes.

Not wanting to waste time running down the stairs, Dale simply hopped over the handrail, leaping down without hesitation. He made sure to obstruct Emma’s view on the way down, as he didn’t want her to get scared and let anything leak out. Emma was innocently giggling away like she thought they were just playing or something, but there was also a hint of valor about her, somehow. Well, she was the daughter of Rita and Kenneth. She may have been a girl, but there was no guarantee that she would come out all gentle and ladylike. Her parents were hoping that she would learn from Latina’s personality and work ethic, but it was far from certain that things would turn out that way.

Dale flew outside and noticed that, while he’d been struggling with those knots, the men he’d beaten down earlier had all cleared themselves out. Rather than stopping to make sure, though, he just kept on running. He did need to make sure to pick a route with few people around, though, since it was hard to say if even a large carriage would come out on top if it got in his way.

When Dale plunged headfirst into the Ocelot, he actually didn’t head straight for Kenneth or Rita. That was because preserving Emma’s dignity took priority.

Emma soon had a thoroughly relieved look on her face, but in the meantime, Dale gave Kenneth a simple explanation of what had happened. The man was quite doting on his daughter, so the deep furrowing of his brows at the moment came as no great surprise.

“So when Theo gets back, make sure you apprehend him.”

“You mind if I give him a scolding while you’re gone?”

“Sure, why not?”

In that instant, it was determined that Theo would be facing a lecture not only from Dale upon his return home, but also from his father.

He may have carried out the task that had been assigned to him, but he was paying a great price in exchange.

The pup was just a pup, though, so chewing him out wouldn’t do much good.

Dale handed Emma over to Kenneth, then took off running back towards the eastern district. As he left, Emma called out, “Bye-bye!” from her father’s arms.

The people Dale passed by on the street looked at him like they were seeing something not of this world. For a while afterwards, there was an urban legend throughout Kreuz of some strange apparition that passed you by on the streets.

When he made it back to the front of the manor, he couldn’t sense the presence of another round of assailants. That was perfect, as Dale was a bit peeved at the moment and wasn’t sure he could hold back like he had before. The decision to retreat certainly seemed to have been the correct one, as otherwise they may well have found themselves the outlets for Dale’s merciless fury.

He flung the door open rather forcefully.

He stomped forwards into the manor, then threw open the door to the left that Theo had come out of before.

“You sure seem annoyed,” Sylvester called out.

“Alright, time to beat this damn prank into submission...” Dale replied with a grin on his face.

Dale snapped his fingers and smiled like his anger had quelled at finally locating the ringleader behind this big dumb mess.

“Should I land a blow or two on you as thanks?”

“You know you’re supposed to respect your elders, right?”

“That only applies to old folks worth respecting, though.”

Despite Dale’s violent statement, Sylvester wasn’t able to hold back a smirk. It really went to show the guts the man had.

Before Dale could take so much as a step forward, Sylvester stated, “Anyway, we already fulfilled our win conditions.”

“What are you...?” Dale started to ask, but a door further in had opened alongside Sylvester’s words, and... Dale fell flat on his face with shock.

Sylvester grinned even further.

“U-Um, Dale...? It may sound odd to say it considering the circumstances, but welcome home.”

“...”

“Are you alright?”

“...”

“Dale?” Latina questioned in a panic, looking at his collapsed figure.

Latina had heard of Dale’s trip to Tislow, which was why she was now telling him “welcome home.” Still, she really did feel like her usual aloof self when she went ahead and said that in a situation like this.

At any rate, Dale currently wasn’t able to respond. A perfect surprise attack had been launched on him in a way he had never expected. And the amount of damage it had caused was immeasurable.

“This was just thrown together with some temporary sewing. Well, don’t you want to see the little lady wearing a proper one?” Sylvester mercilessly called out to Dale from behind, like a devil trying to smooth talk him with a wicked grin. “You wanna see it, right? We’ll set things up proper so the completed item will really match your tastes, y’know?”

He hinted that everything wasn’t fully settled just yet.

“Come on, take a good look,” Sylvester said, grabbing the now red-eared Dale by his shoulder.

“Wait...! No, you see, right now, I just can’t...!” Dale muttered, but he lacked the power to resist and was thus turned to face a worried looking Latina.

His breath reflexively caught in his throat.

Latina was wearing a pure white dress.

Dale of course knew what that lily-white outfit was, as such things were becoming a trend amongst nobles as of late.

It had a completely different sort of impact than the traditional bridal attire from Tislow Dale had been looking forward to seeing Latina wear.

The glimmering dress sparkled gently in the light alongside her platinum hair. As one might expect from a preliminary design, the dress was currently a simple affair with hardly any ornamentation to speak of.

But seeing Latina’s whole body wrapped in light like that, she was so beautiful that she could even be called divine.

The sight of her had long since been burned into Dale’s brain, but she was giving off a completely different impression now. After all, above all else, she was currently dressed as a bride.

His head was practically overflowing with potential comments, but he just wasn’t mentally prepared, so Dale didn’t speak a word.

Normally he would let loose an onslaught of the word “cute” in response to Latina’s pure white attire, but he was just plain overwhelmed at the moment.

This was precisely what Sylvester’s Fairy Princess’s Bodyguards had hoped to accomplish.

That group was well aware of the fact that when it came to persuading Dale, the sight of Latina in that wedding dress was worth far more than a thousand words. After nearly ten years of watching him excessively dote on the girl, that was more than just a mere assumption.

There were numerous other ways they could’ve gone about things, but by making a big dumb mess like this, it turned the affair into one large festival of sorts. And that served as a sort of preliminary entertainment for the wedding itself.

Ever since returning from her birth country, Latina occasionally seemed to brood over something. And since Latina had suddenly disappeared, even though she had returned, Dale was terribly afraid that she would be stolen away from him again.

It wasn’t as if the reasoning behind those concerns was hard to understand. However, the bunch really wanted them to be able to forget about their worries, at least for the sake of taking center stage in their own wedding.

Old timers were meddlesome by nature like that.

And of course, there were plenty who had the couple’s flirting drilled into their heads and who decided to use the opportunity to vent some of their frustrations on Dale.

Even if the dress was just made with some temporary sewing, it still needed time to prepare. Plus, they needed to get Latina changed into it before Dale arrived.

And so, the Fairy Princess Protection Committee’s victory condition was to buy time for those two goals to be met.

The fact that Dale now looked like he was feeling more embarrassed than he had ever been in his whole life and was left at a loss as to what to do showed that the old timers must have really hit the mark.

†

When Dale returned to the Dancing Ocelot alongside Latina after that big dumb mess came to a close, he found a letter from Granny Wen in Tislow waiting for him. The timing of its arrival gave him a seriously bad feeling.

Dale cut through the letter’s seal with a frown on his face, gave the contents a cursory glance, and then furrowed his brows even further.

What was written there was the fixed date for the ceremony, as well as instructions to prepare.

“That damn hag...!” Dale angrily let slip, causing Latina to take a step back in surprise.

There was no helping Dale wanting to curse. After all, it was written clearly there that they were to hold the reception in Kreuz, then journey to Tislow for the ceremony.

His grandmother had dodged the question when he was in Tislow a few days prior, but it seemed she really had been working together with Latina’s “bodyguards.” And apparently she had already accepted their demands and even worked them into her plans, on top of that.

Normally, one would hold the reception after the wedding ceremony. Granny Wen’s instructions surprisingly went against that, though. The reception would allow them to celebrate in Kreuz, and then they would send forth the bride as per Tislow tradition. After that they would hold a Tislow-style ceremony at Dale’s family home, where they would be unveiled to the clan. Those instructions incorporated the demands of the Bodyguards, but it could also be seen as a show of consideration and gratitude towards the people who’d cared for Latina since she was a child.

And for the reception in Kreuz, there was no need for her to follow Tislow tradition in terms of what she wore. Granny Wendelgard made sure to specifically make note of that in her letter.

But with that said, no matter how much Dale may curse and complain, he had already given his consent, so he had to play along with bringing their plans to life.

Thus, it was officially decided with Dale’s approval that Latina would be unveiled in a pure white wedding dress, just like the Platinum Fairy Princess Protection Committee had wanted.

“Now all those documents I gathered up will finally be put to use, right?”

“Y-yeah...”

Dale had been dragged along by Latina to the workshop that also served as Chloe’s family home, only for the girl to greet them with an incredibly bright and sunny smile on her face.

“Latina was saying she didn’t want to go forward with her wedding outfit just based on her own tastes...” Chloe said with a giggle, causing Dale to look a bit embarrassed.

“It’s just, considering your plans for after the reception, I wasn’t so sure about the sort of binding corsets nobles use, or anything with overly long sleeves, so I recommend basically sticking to these sorts of contours...”

As Chloe explained, she lined up design sheets for dresses with the relevant contours to them. Dale didn’t care much about his own outfit and said he would let others just handle it, so now that it came time to look over women’s clothing, he looked just about ready to turn tail and run.

“This design is cute... What do you think, Dale?”

“I think you can get a pretty mature feel to it depending on the type of lace you use. For example, if you use some from the same workshop as this...”

“But I’m only going to wear it the one time, so spending so much would be a little...”

“Don’t worry so much about that.”

At least on that point, Dale and Chloe were in complete agreement.

“If we’re going to have it custom-made regardless, I don’t think there’s any need to compromise on it,” Dale replied, which caused Chloe to break out in an even brighter smile than Latina. Having gotten the verbal go-ahead from her sponsor, she went ahead and started piling up more materials.

“This lace is imported, but it’s incredibly fine and I think it would really stand out. Also, it’s like this in the design sheet, but how about decorating it with something like this... Ah, this’ll work as an example, so what do you think?”

The questions just kept on coming.

Bowled over by Chloe’s swelling momentum, Dale honestly couldn’t recall just what exactly he’d agreed to. Despite being the groom, he would end up having to wait till the day of for the dress’s proper unveiling. And Chloe just waved farewell with a smile, telling him to look forward to it.

The main reason behind that choice was because Dale was getting more deplorable and making more of a pain of himself as the wedding approached, and that only seemed like it was going to get worse. Everyone around him was already well aware of that fact, too.

From the next day onward, both Chloe and Latina started working at a quick yet careful pace to complete the wedding dress.

In the half-month since the plan kicked off, the floor of the workspace had grown so coated in various materials that there was no longer even room to walk.

In the middle of all that sat a pure white silk gauze intended for a veil. Normally such a thing could only be made in the temple of Quirmizi, as that light, delicate, gentle fabric was more than simply a tailoring material. No, it was also a sort of amulet, imbued with a blessing.

“Even high ranking nobles can’t prepare such wonderful silk for their wedding veils!” Chloe excitedly exclaimed while clutching the material to her chest, her thoughts racing as to what veil design would go best with the dress.

“Really?”

“Dale can handle the final blessing ritual, right?”

“Yeah, probably.”

“Craftsmen only rarely ever have a chance to make it in the first place, after all. I really am lucky to have a chance to make a headdress out of it.”

Latina tilted her head, but she didn’t seem to have any question as to the source of that material that could “only be prepared at the temple.” Chloe, meanwhile, just gave a strained smile.

It really wasn’t the sort of material you could get ahold of in half a month. And the number of people who could help get ahold of something like that, which wasn’t normally distributed, was quite limited.

“You sure are cared for.”

“Hmm?”

Chloe glanced over at Latina tilting her head, then set about tidying up the material in a way that wouldn’t leave any creases. Then, she used a marking pin to affix some lace to the glamorous silk dress that would be wrapped around her best friend’s torso.

Latina didn’t just discuss her wedding dress with Chloe. No, she got involved with the needlework, too. And as a result of her devoting so much time to the work, she ended up neglecting Dale. He didn’t act all gloomy over it this time around, though.

Dale was considered a priest of Quirmizi, the god who presided over marriage. As such, wedding ceremonies fell within his field. Normally he didn’t look priestly in the least, but he was actually a serious person at heart, so Dale was busy diligently preparing.

After all, it was his beloved Latina’s wedding ceremony. Or to be more accurate, the wedding of the dear girl he doted endlessly upon. Ever since she was a child, he’d struggled with feelings about the thought of her one day being happily married.

Currently, he held both the feelings of a groom set to marry his beloved bride, as well as a father seeing the daughter he raised about to get married. That made him twice as much of a pain.

It was decided that the reception would be held in the Dancing Ocelot. That decision seemed only obvious not just to Dale and Latina, but also to everyone around them.

As a result, Dale inspected the inside of the shop day after day while thinking thoroughly on the arrangements for the event.

“If we moved this... could we set up an altar here? Kenneth, is it alright if I move the stuff around here?”

“As long as you put everything back where it was once you’re done, I don’t care.”

“And then...”

“Ah, right, we’re planning to leave one of the customer rooms open. Rita said we’d need it so that Latina could change and stuff.”

“Right... It would be pretty difficult to come down the stairs from our room in a dress, huh...?”

“I went ahead and calculated the amount of food and booze you’ll need, but if you have any requests for particular dishes or brands, go ahead and let me know.”

Planning things out with Kenneth like this brought Dale joy now, too.

“No matter how I figure it, there are just going to be too many guests to fit them all in the shop... We’re going to need to prepare for quite a lot of people.”

“We’re planning on closing down for the day of the reception, but we’ll have to announce that somehow...”

Since the Dancing Ocelot acted as a terminal for the temple of Akhdar, that meant it served as an important public facility for distributing information. And so, it couldn’t exactly take closing down for the day lightly.

“I get that it’s necessary, but still...” Dale said, a troubled look on his face.

“I’ll have to let all of this place’s customers know the date and time of the reception at the same time...”

It was easy enough to picture the place being swarmed with folks wanting to catch even a glance of Latina dressed as a bride. It really was questionable how exactly holding the reception “in” the Ocelot would turn out.

“How about if we prepare the backyard and send folks around there, too?”

“We could use my magic, and have Vint help out, too... His wind magic should help with cutting the grass and stuff. And we should work Theo hard, too.”

“I can’t forgive him for getting Emma mixed up in everything, either, so work him to the bone.”

Thanks to that discussion between Dale and Kenneth, the sum of Theo’s punishment was finally decided. He may have managed to pull one over on the world’s most dangerous hero, but the price he paid for it was great. If he at least hadn’t used his little sister in his plan, his father probably wouldn’t have been so hard on him, but it was too late for that now.

Dale’s earth magic was a huge help in leveling out the ground, naturally, but he left the rest of the weeding and cleanup to Theo.

Vint, meanwhile, soon grew sick of the job. Or to be more accurate, he just started playing around and digging holes, so he had to be kicked out. And then, Theo had to fill in the holes, half in tears.

Normally Latina would stand up for him, but she had been going over to Chloe’s house to help sew day after day. The circumstances really were stacked against young Theo.

At the same time, a truly strange sight was unfolding inside the Ocelot.

“Polish it all thoroughly. After all, your strength is all you’re good for,” Dale said with a grin as the old timers who made up the regulars were down on their hands and knees, running rags across the floor. And they were putting so much strength into it that it looked like the friction was going to wear right through their rags.

It was a strange enough sight that anyone happening to visit the shop would just stand there and stare in bewilderment.

“Work to make up for the trouble we made, huh?”

“Don’t forget the stairs, either. Afterwards you’ll wax and then polish again, but first you better make sure you get all the dirt up,” Kenneth added relentlessly, as Dale’s statement could be taken as meaning the old timers were being let off lightly for the whole mess they had caused.

Preparing the inside of the shop where the ceremony would be held was also a job undertaken for the sake of their beloved Latina. In that way, it could be seen as a point of compromise that benefited both Dale, who had gotten wrapped up in that big dumb mess, as well as the old timers who had caused the whole thing in the first place.

But when it came to cleaning, Kenneth was incredibly strict. He apparently saw it as a good opportunity to thoroughly polish up the shop, and so he mercilessly instructed his elders to keep on cleaning.

As a result of all that, by the time the day of the wedding arrived, every last bit of the Ocelot was positively sparkling. And in turn, the regulars’ cleaning skills had also undergone a meteoric rise in that short period of time.