Silkyne had visited the Village of the Great Tree a few times before, but her visits were never frequent—hardly more than once a year. Apparently, managing her territory kept her quite busy. Lately, however, she had been showing up almost every day. She claimed it was for "mental recovery."
I didn’t mind her presence, of course, but I couldn't help but wonder if it was truly a good idea. Malbit, the very Angel who had inflicted that mental damage on her, lived right here. Then again, Silkyne’s grandchild, Fracia, was in the village as well. She also mentioned she was visiting to teach the residents how to use the cosmetics.
That made sense. As part of the negotiations regarding the breeding of the Meleo, a portion of the beauty products handled by Silkyne’s shop had been transferred to the village. Having Silkyne herself come out to explain their use was a huge help.
"Wait, what?" I asked.
It wasn't exactly a fair trade, but Silkyne asked me to stop Malbit from trying to poach the Meleo caretaker she had brought along. Apparently, the caretaker had knocked Malbit flat with a flying knee, and Malbit had taken such a liking to her that she was now determined to recruit her. Malbit was surprisingly aggressive when it came to the militant faction. I promised I would keep her in check, though I doubted the caretaker was the type to be easily swayed.
Just then, Fracia arrived. The results of her recent education were clear. In the past, she used to call Silkyne "Ne-tan," but now she addressed her as "Big Sister Silkyne." I wasn't going to sweat the details; after all, the appearances of the Demon Race rarely matched their actual ages. Beezel, watching from the shadows, looked a bit dejected that he had gone from being "Beezel-jiiji" to "Grandfather Beezel," however.
Eventually, we moved on to the matter of transporting the Meleo from Village Four to the breeding grounds in Beezel’s territory. The Devil Race girls who looked after the creature in Village Four agreed to let him leave the village for about a month. Their conditions were simple: he had to be returned without fail, and they wanted at least one of his offspring. Silkyne readily agreed to both.
The next question was how to move him. At first, the strongest proposal was to carry him on a dragon's back, but the Meleo was terrified of the idea. It couldn't be helped; even if he was accustomed to living with people, he couldn't suppress his instinctive fear of dragons. They weren't actually scary, but it was better not to subject him to unnecessary stress.
Instead, we decided to use the Universal Ship. I recalled Lu making a promise to Dos that she wouldn't take the ship out of the Forest of Death, but that promise apparently only concerned the shipbuilding process itself. In truth, there was no issue with using it for travel. We had simply kept it within the forest to avoid people clamoring for their own ships if we showed it off. Dos understood the situation, so there was no risk of being scolded.
Even if there had been a strict promise, there were always loopholes. The definition of the "Forest of Death" was ambiguous enough that we could have just temporarily renamed our destination, but that would have only made Dos angrier. Such sophistry was unacceptable. One had to be sincere with their promises. The Ancient Devils staying with Dos agreed, and I felt the same way.
While the Universal Ship's absence would leave Village Four somewhat isolated, communication was still possible through the castle's functions—specifically the video communication system we’d used when they first arrived. The connection could only be initiated from Village Four's side, but once it was open, it functioned as two-way communication. If we received word that they needed something, we could always have the dragons handle the transport. We decided we could manage while the ship was away.
Regarding that dragon transport, I had initially planned to ask Hakuren or Rusty, but Hiichiro volunteered for the job. Since Raimeiren would be supervising him and Gural was going along, I felt there was no danger. Hiichiro was certainly full of motivation.
The real problem was whether there would actually be anything to transport. I had sent over a large surplus of supplies specifically so they wouldn't be troubled during the ship’s journey. Unless there was a sudden change in circumstances, Village Four wouldn't need anything. Even the transport of their harvest could likely wait until the ship returned. I figured I might have to manufacture a reason for a delivery just to give Hiichiro something to do. I made a mental note to consult with Raimeiren about it.
Spring was almost here! The season where the Universal Farming Tool would truly shine was fast approaching, and I couldn't wait. We were always well-prepared for the change of seasons, so there was no need for a frantic rush.
However, this spring featured one very important event: a wedding and a reception. It wasn't mine, but rather Mettora’s. Mettora was one of the Mixed-Generation Dragons who looked after Urza, Alfred, and Tiselle. She had married her fiancé this winter, or so I had been told. I had already consulted with Dos and the others to send my blessings and gifts.
When I heard they were planning to hold a formal ceremony and reception now, I thought the timing was a bit strange, but it seemed Urza and the others had encouraged it. Apparently, they had originally held a small wedding for just family, but that had led to a string of headaches. It wasn't anything violent, but rather matters of the heart. To put it simply, there were a significant number of men in the Demon Kingdom Army who had feelings for Mettora while she was looking after the children.
When word got out that she was married, they all began demanding to know who the groom was, what he was like, and how strong he was. This resulted in several duels. I wondered where they even met the soldiers, but then I remembered that Mettora was often with Gratz while he led the army.
Mettora’s husband fought the duels in human form and won them all handily. Mettora sent me reports on the matches, though they were filled with far more lovey-dovey talk than I expected, constantly praising her "amazing husband." Some of the dialogue she quoted sounded suspiciously cool, making me think she might be embellishing things, but the Civil Official Girls seemed to enjoy them. I realized then that romance stories were quite popular and decided to ask Michael to procure more books in that genre. Regardless of the content, having more books in the village was always a plus.
The other trouble involved four male Mixed-Generation Dragons who had come to check on the groom. While that issue was settled, their wives eventually tracked Mettora down. According to the groom's simpler report, the wives had arrived shouting things like, "Who’s the one bewitching my husband?" and "No excuses, let our fists talk!" One even seemed shocked that "Dandaji"—the name Mettora went by in her wilder days—was actually getting married.
Mettora ended up fighting four separate one-on-one duels in her dragon form. Her husband's report mentioned that he was "scared" by the whole ordeal. I thought he did a good job just by staying put, even if it was only because his legs had given out and he couldn't run.
I wasn't sure if that last part had anything to do with the marriage itself, but Urza and the others wanted to make the union public to discourage further trouble. While the issues with the Mixed-Generation Dragons had likely ended with those four, Mettora’s reputation from her days as Dandaji meant there could be more people flying into a rage over her happiness. They felt that holding the ceremony at the Village of the Great Tree was the best solution. With Dragon King Dos and the Dark Dragon Giral present, no one would dare complain if they recognized the marriage.
Since Mettora had done so much for the children, I was more than happy to cooperate. I decided to cover the costs for the wedding and reception held here in the village. It was the least I could do. The rest of the villagers were eager to help as well, though for us, it mostly meant our usual grand banquet.
The village women were preparing decorations to make it feel like a proper wedding, and the High Ogre Maids were already testing extravagant new recipes. The Fairy Queen and the children were thrilled with the prototype wedding cakes. I told them they could eat the prototypes, but reminded them they would be getting the same thing at the actual wedding. I asked if they would get tired of it, but they insisted the flavor would be even better for the real event. It was a nice sentiment, but I wished they wouldn't say that within earshot of the maids—it only fired them up more.
The festivities weren't limited to our village; ceremonies were also planned for the Royal Capital and the base village of Tiselle's nation-building project. Urza’s letter explained that they intended to use these events to introduce the groom and shut down any further drama.
It made sense. Once people realized the groom was a Mixed-Generation Dragon, fewer people would be foolish enough to challenge him.
Wait, the letter also mentioned that Tiselle planned to announce the name and representative of her new nation during the ceremony. I was glad a decision had been made, but I wondered if it was okay to hijack a wedding for a political announcement. I decided I would check with Mettora later to make sure she wasn't being forced into it, though as long as she and her husband were happy, I suppose it was fine.