12-3 The Magical Girl Eri

“Damn you, damn you, damn you, Granburst!How dare a mere adventurer get so full of himself. I will not forgive this, absolutely will not forgive it!”

“I know, right, Papa. That commoner is getting way too carried away. He needs to be punished.”

“How shall I deal with him? Even tearing him to pieces would not be enough. I’ll send him and the Orstons straight to hell.”

In the waiting room, the Bighton father and son were raging.

Overwhelmed by the power of that blessing, and then swept along by the surrounding 분위기 that was impossible to resist, they had grudgingly lowered their heads, and now had nowhere to vent that humiliation, which was apparently why they were like this.

And besides…

The moment the High Priest’s blessing ended and the bride and groom withdrew, His Majesty the King tore into the Bighton father and son harder than anyone thought possible.

In front of a crowd of assembled high-ranking nobles.

“From this day forth, you are never again to show your faces at any royal function of this kind. You were not even summoned, and yet here you came shambling in! You fools, you worthless parasites. Even the Empire would not bother targeting the likes of you.”

He seemed to have swallowed down the part where he almost said, “It would be better if they did target you.”

The nobles too were taken aback by the sheer fury of the usually mild-tempered king, but inwardly every one of them seemed to think it was only natural.

Still, no one believed that idiotic father and son would simply slink away quietly.

Every attendee silently came to the same conclusion: the noble slayer would get his turn.

That shared sentiment was hanging in the air itself.

By now, among the entire nobility, it looked as though my title had already been upgraded from noble slayer to duke slayer.

After that, it was basically Fal-chan’s one-sided domination mode.

She was stuffing herself with every sweet in sight with total abandon.

Wearing an adorable bib with an electric mouse design on it.

The bib Touya wore as he joined her for sweets time had a robot design from an ultra-famous war anime.

The nobles gathering around, all hoping for one more glimpse of Sacred Elion, watched that toddlers’ banquet from a respectful distance.

“Uncle, I want to eat the sweets over there!”

The moment Fal pointed a finger, some minor noble from nearby hurried off to fetch the sweets, then knelt on one knee and offered them up.

She even shared them half-and-half with Touya as she ate.

Touya of the fox tribe was very good at taking care of others, so one way or another he had become the leader-like figure among the little beast-ear kids.

Fal was very attached to him too.

Even so, Fal’s performance had been far beyond anything I expected.

I had only brought her along because I meant to use her as a portable shrine to set the spirits to work if the need arose.

Well, I had made her do her best as a veil girl too, but that role had only been given to her in order to make use of the title of Rainbow Fals.

Either way, I was the mastermind behind it all, so my bad reputation among the nobles had probably spread even further again.

Still, this old man’s skin was thick, so I did not give a damn about something like that.

Now then, here came the star of the show.

“The wedding cake.”

Unlike the ones in Japan, this was the kind you could eat whole from top to bottom.

Rather, Eri did not even know how to make the fake-display type of wedding cake that was common in Japan.

I figured wedding cakes these days had gotten pretty stylish too, but for some reason I heard they were not all that tasty when you actually ate them.

Was that because of cost too, I wonder.

This cake had been reinforced by my gravity magic so it would not collapse, and each tier had Levitation cast on it as well.

Ours was not supported by columns or anything like that, but stacked solidly tier upon tier.

What was more, so that it would not look bare and shabby once the tiers were removed, replacement decorations that could be overlaid on top of each individual tier had also been placed in Eri’s item box.

Eri’s cheeks were a little red, probably because she had slapped them before the entrance to psych herself up.

That really was exactly the sort of bold behavior you would expect from Eri.

At this rate, she might make a fine pro wrestler in the future.

Sorry, Eri.

Some idiot pulled a stunt, so I could not go help cover for you.

And then Eri began explaining the cake in a clear, dignified voice that carried well.

Her cook’s outfit suited her perfectly.

She was already completely professional now.

“Whose daughter is that?”

I could hear voices like that from all over.

Again?

Well, the cook’s outfit did look elegantly refined on her too.

She stood straight with total confidence and carried herself with dignity, after all.

The sight of the princesses waiting in the very front row was especially striking.

To the two who had climbed onto the platform, the young viscount acting as master of ceremonies announced, “For the couple’s very first joint task, we ask that the two of you perform the cake cutting.”

Well, it was Aoi-chan who had written the wedding script, after all.

Even at this first-ever Japanese-style wedding reception, Antonio carried himself with imposing dignity while gently leading Margarita-san.

The sliced cake was first offered to Her Majesty the Queen and the princesses.

Ha, so the king came after that.

And then “Eri-chan’s showtime” began.

The remaining cake rose up, and then, like a multistage space rocket, separated from the bottom one layer at a time, each tier landing in turn on large plates.

Then the decorations taken from the item box descended onto the cakes while being gorgeously illuminated by a special light spell.

It was like watching a magical pâtissier girl.

Though of course, the one actually controlling the presented cakes and such with magic power was none other than me.

Cheers rose throughout the hall.

After that, the serving staff cut it into small portions.

As for little Fal-tan, His Majesty the King personally offered her a slice of cake with his own hands.

Since an entire lineup of sweets was still arranged before Fal, it seemed her serving had been put off a little.

Even so, he himself had brought it before eating any as king.

Fal too was excited by the enormous cake and in an excellent mood, and because she rewarded him with a pleased, “Yay, thank you,” His Majesty the King also seemed delighted.

Eri, who had made the cake, looked happy too.

“Good work. You did well.”

“Yeah, it was hard, but it was fun.”

After that, I praised Eri over and over for her efforts.

She turned her pride into a smile and showed me the face of a truly splendid professional.

I was really glad I had been able to save this girl back then in the dungeon.

And with that, Eri’s work for the day should have been over! Or so it should have been, but then the princesses surrounded her and carried her off.

The other young ladies all went along with them in lively excitement.

Invited along by the princesses she had become friendly with, Eri happily went with them.

Well, do your best.

Meanwhile, Touya was doing his best too, stuffing his cheeks with food, while Fal remained wholly dedicated to sweets.

I had properly arranged for the same dishes to be served to the other little ones too.

That said, things like dragon cuisine were so common at our place that some of them even said, “Eh? Dragon again?”

How extravagant.

Even here in this glamorous royal capital, it was full of people who had never once eaten such a high-class ingredient as dragon.

After that, this old man made sure not to forget to fill his stomach too.

There was no knowing when I might have to enter combat.

When I glanced over at Ars, he too had a plate in one hand, and greeted me by giving the fork in his other hand a little flick.

As expected of S-rank class, there was no need to put everything into words every single time.

Now then, would today’s prey be that short, fat father and son whose only talent was throwing their lineage around?

Compared to a dragon, they were still lacking.

Meanwhile, at that very time, the father and son in question…

“Hey, Papa. I want that spirit child.”

“I see, then let us snatch it away from Granburst as consolation. Hey, Rodos!”

Their butler had his name barked out at him as brusquely as ever.

Perhaps seized by a bad premonition, he kept fussing with the imposing beard that adorned his stout, well-fed frame.

He could already imagine exactly what his worthless master was about to say.

After all, given everything that had happened today…

“What is it, my lord?”

“Make them bring me that detestable little spirit brat called Fal who is with Granburst. Send the men from our knight order to fetch her.”

“N-no, but that person is Sacred Elion-sama, and it is said that even His Majesty the King knelt before her. If anyone were to raise a hand against such a being, there is no telling what punishment might follow.”

“Silence! As if some messenger of the gods could truly exist. I myself will strip away the disguise. That man is surely just staging it all with magic.

Go at once.”

(Haah, this has turned into quite a troublesome situation again. That man will never forgive House Bighton. The ducal House Bighton, which has endured for a thousand long years since the founding of the kingdom, is at last finished. Does that mean my own House Helston, which has served generation after generation as the family’s chief steward, is finished along with it?)

Muttering such things to himself, Rodos busied himself preparing the soldiers.