● Characters
Ruincia: An Angel. Tia’s mother and Tiselle’s grandmother.
Ire: A member of the Mercury Race. A slender man in his thirties. Leader of the filming team.
The Six Dragon God Kingdom. It was originally slated to be the Six Dragon Kingdom, but after the Voice of God manifested during the ceremony, they had scrambled to add "God" to the title. I see. That made sense. My real question, however, was about the "Six." Why six? I sought out Urza, who seemed to be in the loop. She explained that Gienel would be supported by those four Post-Age of Gods Dragons who had rushed to the scene. Gienel plus four... that only made five, didn't it? Shouldn't it be the Five Dragon God Kingdom? Who was the sixth? Was it Mettora? No, if Mettora was counted, then the partners of those four dragons couldn't be ignored either. That would bring the count to ten. If it wasn't the Ten Dragon God Kingdom, then... What was the logic? Was the last slot reserved for a symbolic figure, like a "friend of the nation"? ...Apparently not. As it turned out, the original draft had indeed been the Ten Dragon God Kingdom. However, those four dragons and their respective partners all had their own territories to maintain. It would be impossible for all of them to be present in the new country at once. They decided to work on a rotational basis. Since six was the maximum number of dragons that could be in residence at any given time, they settled on that number. Fair enough. Still, I figured they could have just stuck with Ten. Why lower the number? Urza explained that if a nation called itself the "Ten Dragon Kingdom" but only six dragons were there to receive guests, certain people might feel slighted. She had a point. High-ranking nobles and royalty were prone to taking such things as a personal insult. Since this nation was established specifically to act as a diplomatic bridge between the Demon Kingdom and the human nations, they couldn't afford to start off on the wrong foot. So, "Six Dragon God Kingdom" was a choice born of careful consideration. I was impressed. They really had thought this through—details I never would have noticed on my own. Hm? Someone mentioned that if I just said the word, ten dragons would probably show up in a heartbeat, so I didn't need to worry. No, no. I hardly knew any dragons from the Post-Age of Gods generation. Getting ten together would be quite the feat. Besides, it wasn't like I was their patron or anything; I doubted they’d come just because I called.
With the announcement of the kingdom and Gienel’s coronation finished, it was time for the children to go to bed. About a quarter of the adults went with them, heading home to get some rest for work the next day. The remaining adults, however... continued the festivities. "Don't go overboard," I warned them. I told Gienel and Mettora that they could slip away whenever they felt like it. They had already thanked everyone for coming, so there was no need to linger. If they waited for the party to end naturally, they’d be stuck here for days. "I've already got food and drinks waiting for you at the inn, so don't worry about carrying anything back." "Thank you, Village Head," they said. "Right. By the way..." I pulled Gienel aside. I wanted to make sure Tiselle or Urza hadn't bullied him into the kingship. If they had, I was ready to step in and have the whole thing called off, announcement or no. "Was this your own choice?" I asked. He assured me it was. He felt that as Mettora’s husband, being territoryless—essentially unemployed—would be a blow to his pride. I see. Mettora had told him she didn't care about titles or land, but a man has his pride. When he had consulted her about wanting a territory of his own, she had taken the matter to Tiselle, and the path to the throne was paved. If he was happy with the arrangement, then I was too. Mettora would be right there to support him, so I'm sure they’d manage. "I understand. Now, about Tiselle's caretaker..." I knew that while Mettora could technically continue her duties, she wouldn't be able to stay by Tiselle’s side constantly like she used to. I had no intention of making a newlywed’s life difficult, so we were currently looking for a successor. I was open to suggestions, but they were already short-staffed as it was. For now, Ruincia would be stepping in. She was Tiselle’s grandmother, which was a relief, but it seemed she couldn't take the job permanently either. "Why not?" I asked. "Surely with a dragon king on the throne, people won't make a fuss about an Angel being around." That wasn't the issue. Apparently, Malbit—the Angel Chief—couldn't be left to her own devices. Malbit was so dependent on Ruincia that she’d be in a state of crisis if her aide was gone for too long. Thus, Ruincia’s tenure would be brief. "Well, we can discuss the successor another time. You've done a wonderful job so far, Mettora. Thank you." I smiled at them both. "And once again, congratulations on your marriage."
I left the couple and made my way to a corner of the reception where a group was looking particularly miserable. It was the filming team, led by Ire. Dos had commissioned them to record the wedding. He wanted a permanent record of the event, given its rarity. The team had taken the job seriously, meticulously maintaining their equipment and running through multiple rehearsals. Everything had been going perfectly—until the Age of Gods Dragons roared. The moment the roars began, every single magic tool in their kit had ceased functioning. They only hummed back to life after the Voice of God had finished speaking. Consequently, they hadn't captured a single second of the divine message. It seemed the Voice of God was simply impossible to record. The team understood that intellectually—it was an act of nature, beyond their control. Dos wouldn't be angry; he couldn't be. Still, the fact remained that a crucial part of the wedding was missing from the archives. "Ugh... Mettora-san was looking forward to this so much..." The team was in the depths of despair. I had hoped that filming the start of the reception would cheer them up, but it hadn't done much. We had even staged a flower shower for the cameras to make it look spectacular. "Don't tell me it didn't look good because it was evening," I muttered. I was thinking the same thing, honestly. A flower shower really belonged in the morning or under the high noon sun. In the evening... maybe fireworks would have been better. Fireworks. ...No. All I could picture were pillars of explosive flame. That might look "spectacular" on film, but it didn't exactly scream "wedding." It screamed "hero show." I supposed I should think more about the production values. "There will be other weddings," I told Ire. Gienel and Mettora were planning a second wedding and reception in the Royal Capital, this time in their human forms. "You're not allowed to film that one?" I asked. "Why? Because it's inside the Royal Castle?" That was quite a venue. But I understood. The castle was full of secrets; they probably couldn't risk cameras being everywhere. Even when they filmed the Demon King handling a crisis before, their access had been strictly limited. "I doubt it would help even if I put in a word," I admitted. "But look, there will be other chances. Gral and Helzernark were watching this whole thing with stars in their eyes." For Helze, a wedding was a long way off. But for Gral... maybe in a few years? No, hopefully a bit longer than that. I wanted it to be much further off. "Regardless, you'll have more weddings to shoot. So, cheer up. This is a celebration." The guests of honor had already retired for the night, but there was still plenty of food and drink to go around. "Go on. Enjoy yourselves."
I'm sorry for the wait.