In a Japanese-style house nestled in a provincial town—practically the sticks of the Hydra Kingdom—Shigenobu Okura, one of the transmigrants from Earth, sat staring at the invitations addressed to him and his wife, Hanna.
Hanna set a yunomi of green tea before him and sat down across the table, tilting her head curiously. "Something on your mind?"
"Ah, no... just figuring I’ll have to crack open my emergency stash."
"I’d like to hear a bit more about this 'emergency stash' first, if you don't mind..."
"Oops... Look, just look the other way on that one. It’s not like I have some secret source of income; it’s just the winnings I piled up from betting on the flying board races."
"Goodness. And? Why on earth do you need to dip into your savings now?"
Hanna watched Shigenobu scratch his head awkwardly. She asked with a gentle voice and a wry smile; she had no intention of scolding him for having a private fund. In fact, since Shigenobu turned over the vast majority of his income and savings to her, Hanna often felt he should keep more for himself. Despite that, Shigenobu generally only accepted a fixed monthly "allowance" from her and never spent a copper more.
"I need to get some formal attire for the party... and based on this, it's going to be trouble if they aren't of a fairly high rank."
"Oh? Does it say the dress code is strict?"
"No, it says it's casual. But if my guess is right, some truly incredible people are going to be gathering at this party."
"What? R-Really?"
"Yeah. Look at this invitation. This Black Magic Sheep Paper is incredibly expensive. If Kaito were a status-obsessed snob, it would be one thing, but he’s really not that kind of guy, right? That means the people who actually prepared these invitations—likely the maids serving him or that beastman girl, Anima—judged that 'anything less than this would be an insult' to the recipients. When you look at it that way, you can start to see the true rank of this event."
Before being summoned as a Hero-role, Shigenobu had been the heir to a major corporation, attending countless high-end functions. Though he wasn't intimately familiar with the local aristocracy, he had plenty of knowledge and experience regarding the world of high society.
"At first, I just figured Kaito’s lovers, the Six Kings and Shallow Vernal-sama, would be there. Of course, that alone is staggering, and it's reason enough to dress up. I don't know exactly how close he is with the other Six Kings or other major power players... but my gut tells me that Shallow Vernal-sama, the Supreme Gods, all of the Six Kings with their executives in tow, and the monarchs and nobles of every nation in the Human Realm... that’s the level of people we’re talking about."
"T-That’s unbelievable..."
"It’s just a hunch, but it’s always better to over-prepare for the worst. Even if I’m wrong, the Underworld King-sama and Shallow Vernal-sama are definitely going to be there as his lovers, so there’s no harm in dressing for the occasion. Anyway, that’s why we’re heading to the capital soon to find some rental clothes."
"I understand. Whew... I’m getting nervous already."
Hanna nodded, agreeing with her husband's assessment. But just as the matter seemed settled, the doorbell rang. When Hanna went to answer it, Reijihart and Sylphia were standing on the doorstep.
"Hey, Shigenobu!"
"I did say you should visit more often, but you two are really overdoing it..."
Shigenobu had previously told these two—both long-lived species with a notoriously loose sense of time—to show their faces more frequently. He hadn't been kidding, but since then, they had started popping in seven to ten times a month.
Seeing Shigenobu’s exasperated look, Reijihart and Sylphia shared a cheerful laugh before taking a seat. They accepted the yunomi Hanna brought for them.
"So, what were you two up to?"
"Oh, just talking about this invitation... wondering if we should rent some high-end formal wear given the kind of people who'll be there."
"I see. Rei and I thought about wearing the uniforms we had back when we were Court Mages, but the designs are so outdated now that we decided to get new ones made."
"Oh, that reminds me! If you like, we’ll pay for Shigenobu’s and Hanna’s outfits too. Why don't we go shopping together? We’ve got the money... plenty of it."
Reijihart set a heavy pouch on the table. It was filled with Gold and Platinum Coins, causing Shigenobu and Hanna to go wide-eyed.
"Whoa, hold on. What kind of shady business did you get into? Just turn yourselves in quietly."
"It’s not dirty money! This is just a portion of the allowance our dear daughter, Sieg, sends us."
"That’s even worse. Why are you two trying to buy clothes with your daughter’s hard-earned cash?"
"No, wait, it’s not like that! There are circumstances..."
Shigenobu gave Reijihart a judgmental look for trying to live off Sieg-chan's earnings, but Sylphia stepped in with a wry smile to explain.
"Actually, Rei and I were originally saving the money Sieg-chan sent us for her wedding expenses... but, well... we’ve already saved up so much that we could throw a wedding fit for royalty and still have a mountain of cash left over. It’s still piling up so fast that we figured we had to start spending it eventually."
"Exactly. We told her she didn't need to send us anything anymore, but Sieg can be quite stubborn about these things..."
"Wait, is Sieg-chan really such a high earner?"
Sieglinde sent them money every month without fail. It had started because she felt responsible for them leaving their positions as Court Mages, but now it was simply a habit. Reijihart and Sylphia had accepted it at first, intending to gift it back for her wedding, but the amount had grown by several magnitudes in recent years.
"Well, apparently the Phantasm King-sama is very fond of the materials shed by Sieg’s pet Rainbow Dragon, and she comes by to buy them quite often."
"There are already too many things to process there. A pet Rainbow Dragon? The Phantasm King-sama? Right, you two... sit down and explain everything in detail."
Shigenobu let out a long, weary sigh. Reijihart and Sylphia looked at each other, shared a chuckle, and began to tell him the whole story.
Serious-senpai: "By the way, Fia was using all sorts of medical terminology earlier. Did that also get passed down from a former Hero-role?"
???: "Eh?! Could such a convenient story actually exist? You’re saying there’s a transcendent beautiful girl who possesses a vast, deep knowledge of future medical technology and research—someone who has the foresight and calculation to raise the medical level of this world in stages through academic societies to match its era and civilization level? And she has the power to actually pull it off!?"
Serious-senpai: "It’s you, isn't it?! Come to think of it, she did transmigrate from a world that’s basically a future version of Earth..."