章 30: Wedding
The moons were high in the sky. James returned home and laid down in bed. 'Hmm. The wedding is supposed to be in less than a week, but I still haven't heard from Lumi. Now Charla is here, which complicates things even further…' He turned his head to the side and sighed, "Why are you in my bed again, Charla?"
"I'm your fiancé! Of course, I'll share your bed. Besides, there's no guest room in your dorm." She smiled.
"Go sleep in Virgil's room."
"Don't want to!" She yelled.
A knocking sound rang from the door and it opened. Adam walked in with a woman behind him. "Hey Yale, Lumi is here to see you."
'Mm. Yup. Just as expected.' James thought to himself calmly. 'It only makes sense she walks in when I'm lying in bed with Charla. It is the natural order of the universe. God wakes up and thinks, how can I fuck with James today?' He sat up from the bed and waved, "Hey Lumi. Long time no see."
Lumi looked at the two on the bed and frowned. "This is Princess Charla I presume?"
"Hello!" She smiled. "You know, I don't mind if you want to become Yale's concubine."
"Like hell I will!" Lumi frowned. "Yale, let's talk outside."
"Mm. Sure." He nodded and stood up to follow her. Charla tried to follow along and he tried stopping her. "We're just talking. Wait here."
"I don't want to!" She pouted. "What if she tries to steal you away from me!" She insisted on fallowing.
"Annoying." James frowned. He shot some shadow threads out to bind her feet to the floor. Then he turned around to leave.
"Hey! Husband! You can't do this! It's domestic abuse!" Charla yelled while trying to remove the threads.
James and Lumi left the castle and followed the mountain path until they reached a small plaza. A few benches were setup underneath a gazebo. There was currently no one else here. They each took a seat next to each other on a bench.
Lumi smiled. "So, it's only been a few weeks and you're already cheating on me?"
"It's not like that." James sighed. "Virgil set this all up without my knowledge. He was also the one behind making us think we slept together. He seems to like playing matchmaker."
"Mm." She nodded. "I've already heard about your engagement with Charla. I figured he was behind it. Though I am surprised you're already sleeping with her."
"I'm not." He shook his head. "She snuck into my bed and refuses to leave. We haven't done anything together."
"Is that so." Lumi nodded.
"You seem awfully calm about all this?" He questioned.
"I was prepared beforehand. My father already informed me our engagement has been canceled. There won't be a wedding." She turned towards him. "We weren't particularly close in the 1st place so it's no big deal. In fact, it'd be more accurate to describe us as enemies."
"Is that so?" He pulled out a couple of wine skins from his storage pouch and handed one to her. He lifted it up and smiled, "Cheers! To my first time being dumped!" He lifted the bag of wine to his mouth and drank a large mouthful.
Lumi drank some to and grinned, "Hey, who dumped whom? As far as I can tell, I was the one that got dumped."
"No way!" He yelled. "Your father canceled the engagement. Therefore, you did the dumping! I am a gentleman who would never leave such a pretty woman at the altar!"
"Oh? She chuckled, "Then I suppose you plan on marrying Princess Charla soon?"
He chugged another mouthful of wine and smiled, "Correction. I am a hoodlum who will leave a pretty woman at the altar in the near future!"
"Haha!" She laughed. "Why not just marry her? She's pretty, royalty, and rich. Seems like a pretty good deal to me."
"I just don't like it." He shook his head. "Being forced to marry someone I don't even know. It's not really my thing. Besides, I am the most handsome man in the world. I would be doing a huge disservice to my loyal fans if I ever got married."
"Pfft!" She spit out some wine, "What fans?! Besides, you were willing to marry me, and we barely know each other?"
"No! That's different!" He denied. "You were the 1st woman I met in this world. We bonded on the road, drank together in the restaurant, and accidently got engaged. It's entirely different! I've even seen you naked!"
"What?!" She yelled in shock. She stood up and grabbed him by the collar. "I thought you said you didn't peep?!"
"It was a joke! A joke!" He put his hands up innocently while grinning.
"Hmph." She snorted as she let go of his collar. "So, when is the wedding between you and Charla?"
"Don't know, don't care." He shrugged. "I'm going to watch my masters wedding. Then I'm bailing. It's about time for me to head out and see the new world anyways. Earth was so much better. I could just see the entire world from the computer at home."
"What's a computer?" She questioned.
"Uh… How to describe it… It's a box that does math… I guess? It lets ordinary people see any location in the world, read any book, buy things, and other stuff like that."
"Sounds interesting! Let's make one! How do we do it?"
"No idea. Sorry."
"Tsk. Useless."
"Well, sorry for being useless."
The two continued to chat throughout the night. Neither returned home until the sun was already rising in the sky.
…
The days continued to pass. Each day Virgil would return home exhausted and shivering in fear from Skeleton's training. Soon, an entire week passed. It was time for Skeleton's wedding.
James dressed himself in a black suit with a white shirt. He also wore a tie that had a black and green checkered pattern.. It looked just like the suit he wore before coming to this world. He had custom ordered it for the wedding. The academy had students that would willingly run tasks for those that couldn't leave the school yet. Of course, it was rather expensive. He had used the service to custom order the clothing. It took him several tries over a week before they got it right.
Virgil walked into the room while wearing ceremonial magus robes. They were mostly white with a few streaks of red and silver. When he saw Yale his eyes widened, "What the hell are you wearing?"
"This?" He smiled. "It's called a suit. It's traditional clothing for weddings in my homeland."
"Is that so…?" Virgil rubbed his chin while examining the clothing. "It's pretty sharp. I like it! There's still a few hours before the wedding. I think I'll wear one to."
"I don't think you can." He shook his head. "I had it custom made. You won't be able to buy one."
"Ha! Who do you think I am? Just watch!" He turned around to leave the room. He reappeared two hours later wearing a black suit with a tie. The tie had a silver and red striped pattern. "Looks pretty good on me, right?"
"You! How did you do it?!" James questioned.
"Simple!" Virgil smiled. "I paid a 6th grade magus to run in town to commission the best tailor in the city. I sketched the details down on paper and paid extra for express delivery."
"That doesn't even make sense!" He complained. "How could the tailor possibly know the looks from it just based on a single sketch? I had to try multiple times before they got it right."
"That's why I said he was the best tailor! Anyways, let's go."
The two headed for the wedding venue. It was being held at the very top of the mountain where the peak had been flattened into a large plaza. Students were not normally allowed there. It was usually only used for special events that affected the entire academy.
The plaza had marble paths that led to a large central area. Many flowers bloomed along the path. Gazebos were set up in several different areas. They followed the path and reached the center. A large brick tower stood 30 meters tall. A beautiful bronze bell was at the top of it. Many chairs were set up in rows. A long red carpet with gold trim covered the aisle between the chairs. The two went and found their seats. A few other guests that arrived ahead of them eyed them curiously. The suits they wore stood out amongst the ceremonial magus robes most guests were wearing. There were also some knights in attendance that wore ceremonial knight robes instead.
"Hey, Virgil." James whispered.
"Hmm? What's up?"
"Aren't those ceremonial magus robes and ceremonial knight robes exactly the same? I can't see the difference."
"Mm." He nodded. "It is hard to tell the difference. I will tell you the secret difference between them. The secret is… they're exactly the same!"
"What?!" James eye's widened in shock. "How's that possible? I've read about them before. They're supposed to be different."
"No, people just treat them differently." Virgil shook his head. "In the past, Magi came up with fancy ceremonial robes to show their status. The knights copied the idea and created their own robes that were even fancier. The magi responded angrily by making their robes even fancier! The two sides kept competing until they looked like gaudy messes. They finally went back to mostly plain robes, but both sides insist they're different. It's a game of politics that's a bit of an inside joke among the aristocracy."
"That's stupid."
"Yup."
Guests continued to find their seats. Soon they were completely filled. James and Virgil were near the back since they were relatively unimportant guests. There were many 9th grade magi and knights attending the wedding. The two of them barely qualified to even attend.
'I wonder if any of my senior apprentice brothers are here? I'd like to share horror stories with them and talk trash about master… Well, whatever. I'll ask around at the reception. Hmm, the weddings here are similar to Earth. I wonder why.'
Loud music began to play from an organ to signify the start of the wedding. Skeleton stood at the end of the red carpet in his formal wedding attire. His magus robes were a mixture of the seven elemental colors. Black, white, silver, red, blue, green, and yellow. It looked a bit tacky, but this was the standard outfit for magi getting married. He stood there woodenly with a frozen expression. It was as if he was completely unconcerned with today being the day of his grand wedding.
Professor Metal appeared at the end of the red carpet. Her curly brown hair was tied up in a bun. She wore a long wedding dress that was also a mixture of the seven elemental colors. She walked down the aisle slowly and stopped in front of Skeleton.
The man officiating the wedding was City Lord Brine! He wore plain white robes and held a silver book in his hands. "As a representative of the Elder Dragon, I am here today to join these two magi in holy matrimony. They will be together for all their life on the Magus Plane. When death splits them apart, they will reunite in the Elder Dragon's holy kingdom. Their fates will forever be intertwined…
James began to nod off during the long speech. 'Ugh, this is why I always hated weddings! I'm surprised master even went through with it. Doesn't seem like him. If anything, I'd expect him to run away or something… wait!' He stood up in shock as Lord Brine was still giving the sermons.
"If anyone has a reason why these two should not be joined together, speak now or forever hold your peace." Lord Brine finished his speech right as James had stood up. He looked at him and frowned. "Yale, do you have an objection?"
"Huh?!" He looked around and saw everyone staring at him. Sweat covered his forehead as he tried to force a smile, "Ah, no objections. I was just wondering… is my master okay? I saw him walk to the altar earlier, but he hasn't exactly been moving around much since then…"
"Hmm?" Professor Metal frowned. She looked at Skeleton. He looked completely normal. He was breathing, and his expression was a bit dull. She covered her finger in mana and gave him a light poke. Skeleton's body immediately began to fade away as black smoke poured everywhere! As the smoke cleared, a sheet of paper fell to the floor. She stood there in shock, completely unable to move.
Lord Brine bent over and picked up the paper. He unfolded it and began to read aloud, "Dear beloved, I have decided I am far too young to marry. My father always told me that I should wait until I was his age to get married. He still lives to this day, but no matter how much I age he remains 20 years older than me. Alas, I am a filial child and cannot stand to go against my father's dearest wishes. Please forgive me for running away. I would have told you sooner, but I very much like living. I have taken everything of value with me, so don't even think of taking out your anger on my maids. P.S. I didn't invite any of my disciples, but Yale should still be there. Take out your anger on him. Thanks."
The crowd glanced back and forth between the bride and Yale with wide eyes. Professor Metal turned towards him with red eyes burning with rage. "IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT!!!" Metal began to appear around her as she prepared to release her anger.
クリエイターの想い 
SnoozySloth
SnoozySloth So... Skeleton ran away. I thought about actually having them marry, but I don't feel it would do Skeleton's character justice. Maybe next time. Poor Professor Metal...
I think this chapter will signify the end of the 1st volume. Roughly 75K words feels good for it and I think we've finally finished the 1st major arc. I'll know for sure once I start writing the next chapter or two.
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