It's been a week since the house renovations were complete. Sylphy was given 7 days off by Ariel. So that Sylphy would have a good married life, Ariel gave her some consideration. Me making use of that, and for 7 days and 7 nights, being spoiled by Sylphy, spoiling Sylphy, and passing through many sweet and sordid nights...
Is not what happened.[1]
Since I've become the head of a household as well, there are things that I have to do.
According to the common sense of this world, after getting married and buying a house, you host a feast and invite over people you're close to. Though I don't know which countries have this as their common sense, I do know that Shirone and Milis at least have this custom. If you just buy a new house, then it's fine not to hold one, but if you're getting married and buying a house, then you must host a feast. It's what people would call a wedding reception, huh?
"For now, let's invite our acquaintances and hold a party."
"Yes."
In the living room, we're sitting on the sofa and facing each other, and our foreheads are close together. We're looking downwards at a list of the people we're going to invite to the party. There's also a piece of paper for arranging the seating arrangements.
"Still, we sure have a range of acquaintances."
For me, it's:
Elinalise, Zanoba, Julie, Cliff, Rinia, Pursena, Badigadi. Also I'm wondering what I should do about Jinas and Soldat.
For Sylphy, it's:
Ariel, Luke, and two others.
Altogether we have eleven people, give or take. If possible I would've liked to have invited Paul and the others, but there's no helping it since they aren't here. I'd sent a letter about our marriage, but who knows when it'll arrive.
"Royalty, Beast Race, Demon Race, Slave, Adventurer... There are some pretty foul-mouthed ones among them, so let's assume that problems will arise."
Since Rinia and Pursena still don't see Ariel in a very good light, we can expect that if they're face to face a dangerous situation will arise. Were this a wedding in my previous life then we could separate them and make sure they didn't meet, but no matter how big our house may be, in the end it's still just a normal house. There's not even enough room to dance.
"You think so? Ariel-sama isn't a person who would cause problems in such a situation but..."
"Be that as it may, I don't want the atmosphere to go bad and having people want to go home. If it comes down to it, should we split them into two groups...? We could isolate the problematic ones..."
"Mmmn, but since a lot of your acquaintances seem like they'll be important people in the future, Ariel-sama would be pretty happy to meet them, right?"
In my mind floats the image of a motivated Ariel wearing makeup.
'Wedding receptions are a great opportunity because normally lots of handsome guys will appear!' she says.
Nah, I know that's not how she is though.
In short, she wants to form connections with the Special Students. Ariel is also a calculating person.
"Then with Ariel-sama taking responsibility herself, the problem now is the seating order, huh?"
It seems that they can't just sit wherever. Having said that though, it's pretty hard to rank them in social importance, huh? At least Badigadi is the most important as a Demon King incumbent, but below him are Ariel, Zanoba, Rinia and Pursena. As they're all royalty, they'll all fuss over their appropriate seating.
Cliff also seems like he'll complain if he gets too low a seat but... He has undergone this kind of education. It might unexpectedly be fine. Moreover, as long as he's sitting next to Elinalise, he probably won't have any problems.
Since Julie is a slave she'd be at the end of the table, but she'd be pitiful if we separated her from Zanoba. She's still a child who isn't good with talking after all. Since she's my direct disciple, I wonder, if I can make it work somehow.
"How high, socially, are Ariel-sama's attendants?"
"Umm, they're middle-ranking nobles."
According to what Sylphy has said, they're women, but deciding where to put women and men is also difficult. Luke is the same, but it'd be better not to separate him from Ariel too much. Though I can't imagine that one of my acquaintances would be one, it'd be terrible if Ariel got assassinated after all.
"Huh? Haven't we forgotten someone?"
While Sylphy was looking at her list, she suddenly said that. Being told that, I look at my list. A person I've forgotten. Who is it, I wonder. I don't think I've forgotten anyone but... Goriade-san?
"Ah, I got it! It's Nanahoshi-san! We have to invite her too!"
Being told this, I looked down at my list. Silent Sevenstar's name really wasn't written there. Ahh, I naturally forgot. Having said that though...
"Would she... come, do you think?"
"She'll definitely come."
"Should we invite her for now?"
Though I had no intention of leaving anyone out, she seemed like she wanted to completely shut out this world after all. No, that and not inviting her are different matters. I'd better add her name to the list.
"Having only arranged it like this, what are we going to do if no one comes...?"
What came to mind was Christmas in a certain anime. Though they had happily prepared a huge cake, no one came and they went crazy. It was that kind of painful image.
"At the very least, Ariel-sama and Zanoba-kun will definitely come, you know."
Sylphy's one line completely cast aside my anxiety. Ariel's party of four, and my two disciples, Zanoba and Julie. I think that these six people would definitely come. In Zanoba's case, even if I didn't invite him, he'd probably show up on the day prostrating with limbs and forehead on the ground, congratulating me.
"After all, I think that Ariel-sama would like to deepen her bonds with you, Rudi. Also, Zanoba-kun probably understands that if he didn't come, your trust in him would collapse so... Rudi, you're pretty mindful of these kind of things, huh?"
A-A-A-As if I am. I'm the type of guy that don't give no shits 'bout the small things.
"I wonder if Rinia and Pursena would really miss it? After all, those of the Beast Race will never refuse an invitation from a superior."
"Is that how it is?"
"Mn, if for some reason they didn't come, it's fine just to teach the two of them a lesson again."
It seems that the Beast Race don't think that much is excessive. Thinking back to the time in the Great Forest as well when Gyes was performing his dogeza, it might have been that from the perspective of the Beast Race, it was a situation where it wouldn't have been odd for Ruijerd to go on a huge rampage. Even when hit by Eris, they didn't say anything back, huh. On the contrary, after I was quickly released, they still made light of me. Does that mean that at some point I was being treated as someone lower ranked? Well, I don't know how it really was, though.
"Well, since Cliff did tell me to call him as well, I wonder if he'll come."
"I kind of want Elinalise-san to come as well..." muttered Sylphy.
Elinalise. I wonder if something happened. I've never really seen the two speaking though.
"There's just something I'd like to ask her. It's nothing important though."
I wonder what it is. Could it be that she wants to ask if we've had sexual relations? With Elinalise at the very least, she won't hear anything even if she asks.[2]