Chapter 102
For Now, Shall We Get Engaged?
“Is there… something going on?”
Well, this is really just a concern of mine, but I can’t help worrying about Princess Fiona getting engaged.
At present, Princess Fiona doesn’t have a fiancé.
The strongest candidate used to be my older brother, but now that he’s clearly on good terms with Ervin, she probably doesn’t think she can win him over anymore.
If that’s the case, even the next most promising noble wouldn’t measure up—maybe not worse than my brother, but not truly his equal either.
But if the partner were a Hero, that would be a different story.
A Hero chosen by an oracle of the goddess Rekate would receive the full backing of the Church.
I don’t really understand why she wants that much power, but it seems there’s some kind of movement in that direction.
And if that’s the case, the one who becomes an obstacle is Maria-chan.
Since she’s been officially recognized as a Saint, she probably won’t be eliminated outright—but conspiracies often lurk in the most unexpected places.
To avoid that, we need to be extremely careful.
“Then why don’t you just get engaged already?”
“Eh? But I mean, Abel hasn’t actually confessed to me or anything…”
“Huh? He hasn’t?”
“Yeah…”
Honestly, Abel—why is he being so laid-back?
They’re always so close and affectionate that I assumed he’d at least confessed already.
“So that means your relationship is—”
“Just childhood friends, I guess.”
This is that situation, isn’t it? Since they’re childhood friends and like each other, he probably thinks, I don’t have to say it, she already knows.
But with that kind of attitude, even setting Princess Fiona aside, if a noble with influence over the Church decided to interfere, they’d be separated in no time.
Alright. In that case, I’ll step in and act as the go-between.
Of course, I’ll consult my brother too.
And for moments like this, it’s time for Origami-kun Number One to shine.
“Brother, do you have a moment?”
There are three Origami-kuns: Numbers One through Three. I have Number One, my brother has Number Two, and Father has Number Three.
Using Origami-kun, we can talk to each other even when we’re far apart!
“『What is it, Letty?』”
Ahh… my brother’s voice really is wonderful, no matter when I hear it.
I’d love to keep listening, but for Maria-chan’s sake, we need to talk.
“I was talking with Maria-chan just now, and you know, Maria-chan and Abel still aren’t engaged.”
“『That’s true.』”
“And apparently, he hasn’t even confessed to her. So basically, the two of them are just childhood friends right now.”
“『Eh? Is that so?』”
I hear a surprised voice. And it’s not just my brother—Ervin’s voice, right beside him, came through too.
Yeah, of course you’d be shocked.
I get it, I really do.
I was shocked too.
“『In that case… that’s dangerous.』”
“Exactly. Abel may be called a Hero, but he doesn’t have any achievements yet, and as for Maria-chan, people don’t even know she’s been recognized as a Saint yet, so for now it’s probably fine.”
“『But once the Demon King is defeated, they’ll be in the spotlight all at once.』”
Abel aside, Maria-chan is the one in danger.
After all, Saints are special existences, and there are plenty of nobles who’d want to bring that bloodline into their family.
If they defeat the Demon King this time, there won’t be another Demon King subjugation for a while, and she’ll gain the status of Saint—she’ll definitely become a major target.
Even Ervin—if he weren’t already engaged to me, it wouldn’t have been strange at all for talk of him getting engaged to Maria-chan to come up.
“So I was thinking it might be better for her to get engaged to Abel as soon as possible. What do you think, Brother?”
“『I agree. Abel was planning to propose after receiving his reward for defeating the Demon King, but that would be too late.』”
Somewhere behind my brother, I can hear Abel making a fuss, saying things like, “Engaged all of a sudden?” and “No, I’ll confess properly myself!”
But I ignore him. Ignore, ignore.
If you’re too much of a coward to confess during this journey, then just stay quiet and listen to my brother.
Meanwhile, Maria-chan, hearing Abel’s voice, has turned bright red.
Sorry about that. I know you probably wanted to be confessed to somewhere nicer—like a beautiful flower field or something.
Make it up during the proposal, okay?
“If there’s a village nearby, should we just submit the engagement paperwork at the church there?”
“『Yes. After the Demon King is defeated, we don’t know what kind of interference might happen.』”
I hear my brother rustling paper.
He’s probably looking at a map.
“『There’s a village a little further ahead. We’ll reach it by tomorrow, so let’s do it there. Abel, is that fine with you?』”
Unfortunately, Abel’s voice was too far away for me to hear clearly.
“『I see, I see. But are you really okay with possibly being separated from Maria? If you absolutely refuse, then we’ll have no choice but to at least have Maria get engaged to someone else for protection—hmm? Do you have something you want to say?』”
I don’t know what Abel answered after that.
Meanwhile, I was checking with Maria-chan.
“Maria-chan, I know this is sudden, but are you okay with going ahead with an engagement for now?”
“…If we don’t, we might get separated, right?”
“Yes. I think that’s very likely.”
“Then I… um… I’m okay with it.”
Maria-chan, bright red from embarrassment, was unbelievably cute.
They really are head over heels for each other.
“Brother, it seems Maria-chan is fine with the engagement.”
“『Understood. I’ll handle persuading Abel.』”
“…I’ll leave it to you.”
Persuasion by my brother, huh?
At that point, Abel doesn’t really have a choice but to nod, does he?
Good luck, Abel.
