So — next morning.
I woke to the sight of a palm-top rabbit in formal wear… fully dressed UP, in fact.
She’d apparently been waiting for me to wake.
Not one of the women was in the bed — and given the usual morning racket, the silence felt genuinely uncanny.
The palm-top rabbit led me out, guiding me to the spot where Katia had taken the elf women yesterday.
A few minutes down the overgrown forest path — and I sucked in a breath.
—This one genuinely got me.
There, waiting, stood my wives — every one of them in a pure white wedding dress.
A purpose-built ceremony venue had been erected, and the guests — Marcus, Cornelia — were beaming.
Also, Atomu-kun in priest’s vestments looks so profoundly wrong it’s hilarious.
“So — what exactly is all this, Maria?”
“We received a lecture. From Lady Cornelia.”
“Hm? A lecture?”
“Mm,” Cornelia confirmed, walking over.
“I heard it all from Ouroboros — thou art an outrageous creature, it seems?”
“Outrageous?”
“Night after night, as I hear it… engaging in impure relations with an unspecified multitude.”
“Hold on, none of that is my fault. I’m the one under nightly assault, if anything.”
“REGARDLESS. Accountability must be settled properly.”
“Accountability?”
“Unlike Japan, plural marriage is nothing rare in this world. Marry them — and the relations cease to be impure. Simple, no?”
“Well… can’t argue the logic.”
At which point Sonya turned to Cornelia with a face of pure, unguarded curiosity:
“But how come Cornelia never had a not-hate-it-at-all development with Tatsuya~?”
Ouroboros’s face seized. Cornelia smiled, wry.
“Eh? Eh? What did I say~?”
“Sonya. That is the ONE question we do not ask.”
“Ehh~? Why not~?”
Cornelia shrugged — the full “good grief” — and waved a hand.
“It’s fine, Ouroboros.”
“But Lady Cornelia… about that person…”
Cornelia turned distant eyes to the sky, and murmured:
”…Isekai Guild Meals.”
“Lady Cornelia!”
She looks… genuinely, deeply wistful.
Why a BOOK TITLE just came out of her mouth is a mystery, but some things you don’t tsukkomi.
“So what’s the story, Cornelia?”
“Mm. Thou knowest I once worked at a certain restaurant, yes? With its proprietor, there was… a great deal. Suffice to say: I made my vow once, and I shall lie beside no man but him.”
I see.
Even Demon Lords carry their histories, huh.
But one thing genuinely nagged at me.
“But — Cornelia? Even ATOMU-KUN gave you the Yes Lolita No Touch treatment… you’re telling me a man actually laid hands on YOU?”
“For the last time: I am a loli-BABA. In point of fact I am properly married, with a child and all.”
“SERIOUSLY?!”
“Seriously. Though all of it is long, long ago now… and ‘parent and child’ has drifted into something more like ‘ancestor and descendants’ besides.”
Cornelia’s expression had gone quiet and soft — and then Arisa, resplendent in her wedding dress, came running up to me.
“Which brings us to YOU, Tatsuya-bro! Put this on, wouldya?!”
What she held out was — a tuxedo.
And so, one thing following another—
The wedding was gloriously rowdy.
Atomu-kun, it must be said, was chosen as officiant purely because “Sage aptitude” sounded vaguely clerical.
He fumbled and stammered through the entire rite, and the ceremonial kiss was a spectacle in itself.
Because—
—Sonya.
—Arisa.
—Maria.
—Ouroboros.
—Katia.
—Mayu.
Six of them, if you’re counting.
There was literally a QUEUE for the ceremonial kiss. This bore no resemblance to any wedding I have ever attended.
The moment the kissing concluded, the banquet began.
Cornelia ate curry, everyone else ate and drank like champions — so apart from the outfits, a completely standard evening for this household.
Fun, the way it always is. Happy, the way it always is. Food and drink delicious, the way they always are.
We ate and drank and made noise until the sun was long gone.
And that night—
I stumbled home thoroughly drunk, and Sonya announced:
“Now — everyone’s wedding night, all together~♪”
Oi oi. Did you SEE today’s banquet?
Everyone drank multiples of the usual and the entire roster is wrecked.
I surveyed the room — every one of them, still in her wedding dress, underwear conspicuously absent, motivation conspicuously present.
“Oi oi — THIS drunk, and I’m supposed to handle ALL of you at once?”
Honestly, I’d overdone the drinking myself. I was running on vapors.
Tomorrow, please, mercy, tomorrow — I was thinking, when six faces turned sorrowfully toward me:
“Tatsuya~? Do you hate me~?”
“Lord Tatsuya… is it so unwelcome?”
“Master… if you hate it, please don’t force yourself.”
“Tatsuya-bro… if ya hate it… it’s fine, y’know?”
“Onii-chan… you hate it? That makes Boku sad…”
“Tatsuya-san… do you truly, truly hate it?”
And so, having no choice whatsoever — I gave my answer:
“I don’t hate this at all.”
And the brides descended upon me, wedding dresses and all.
And, as always, a ferocious night deepened around us.
And so, one way or another—
—my noisy slow life looks set to carry on, happily, for a long time to come.