By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter 6

Chapter 5 Episode 6: Reunion 4

I went back to the inn that night to pack up my things and cancel my stay, then returned to the estate. Reinhart and Elise were seeing other guests at the time, so we were shown to our rooms.

The guest room was like a suite in a famous luxury hotel I once saw on TV during my life on Earth. I was surprised by the size of the room when I first entered, but then I was also shown an additional two doors to the left and right. The initial room was the living room, while the one on the right was the bathroom. The door on the left led to a bedroom, so I was getting three rooms all to myself.

And furthermore, there was always a maid standing by in another room, whom I could call on at any time. They seemed to pick maids who I knew, so it was always Araune, Lilian, or Lulunese. I honestly couldn’t have appreciated it more, but the maids told me that the same level of hospitality was given to all the guests. Maybe the culture was different here, or maybe this was just the power of wealth.

Someone knocked on the door. “Come in!” I said.

“Excuse me, Master Takebayashi,” Lulunese said. “My fiance and three of his coworkers would like to see you, if you wouldn’t mind.”

“I’ll talk to them. Let them inside.”

“As you wish.”

Lulunese waved her tail and elegantly walked away. I waited at the entrance until she returned a few minutes later with Hughes, Camil, Jill, and Zeph, looking no different from when I first met them. They greeted me and asked how I was doing.

“I’m glad to see you three again,” I said.

“Hey, you leaving me out?” Hughes complained.

“I just saw you yesterday, Hughes. Why didn’t you mention your wedding yesterday, by the way?”

“Look, I was gonna tell you at first, but getting you to the inn ate up a lot of time. If I just dropped the news that I was getting married right before I headed off, that would’ve been kind of awkward, right?”

“I suppose that would have been startling.”

“Not only that, but, well, I’m only able to get married now because of how you saved me that time before. I wanted to thank you properly once I got the chance to tell you about it,” he explained. He seemed to be acting subtly different.

“I suppose even Hughes will get a little introspective after a near-death experience,” said Jill.

“Must’ve been what got him to confess to her,” said Camil.

“Hey, shut up,” Hughes stammered.

“Don’t think there’s much use hiding it now, but I think that’s enough, you two,” Zeph said. “At least show some tact for her, if not Hughes.”

“I don’t mind,” Lulunese said nonchalantly as she stood aside by the open door. Maybe she was trying to keep a straight face out of pride as a maid, but she was blushing. She seemed to have trouble with discussion of this subject.

“Come have a seat, everyone,” I offered. “We can talk inside.”

“Right! Don’t mind if I do,” said Hughes.

“I’ll see myself out, then,” said Lulunese.

The four of them sat on the couch in the living room. I forgot that I had been using the table there.

“Sorry about the mess.”

“It’s fine, we came on short notice anyway.”

“No problem!”

“What’s this washtub for, though?”

“Looks like it’s full of sand.”

“This room’s so luxurious that it kind of makes me uncomfortable, so I’ve been making this,” I said. The tub stuck out like a sore thumb against the opulence of the room, but I was using it to make a stone figure. It wasn’t done yet and looked quite ugly, but it was just a test run for a god statue. “There’s also this one, this one, and this one...”

“That’s a lot!”

“It’s full of the damn things.”

“I wanted to finalize the designs for the statues before I actually make the final products.”

“You’re always so good with the details.”

“Looks like all of them are smiling, though.”

“When you line them up, you can clearly see the distinct moods between them.”

“You couldn’t have been here for more than a few hours, but you’ve already made this many?”

“These are just test runs for figuring out the designs, so I just made one simple mold and packed it with sand to solidify it with magic, and I mass-produce featureless figures with it. I add the details after that.”

Lulunese came in with drinks for all of us. I cleared some space on the table.

“I have come bearing drinks,” she said.

“Thank you. Would you like to stay and talk, Lulunese? Tell me which one of these figures you like. I’ll take your opinion into account when I make the real things.”

“As you wish.”

Lulunese stoically sat next to Hughes and scanned her eyes over the statues.

“This one looks pretty fun,” Hughes said and picked out a Lulutia statue with a wide smile.

“I don’t dislike it, but I think weddings should have something a bit more majestic. Like this,” Lulunese said and picked up a statue with a serious expression.

The disagreement started a hushed discussion between them. It didn’t sound too thorny, but it was hard to get a word in. It almost sounded like they were flirting.

“This again?”

“Subtlety went out the window with them ever since they announced the marriage.”

“This is just how they’ve been all the time lately.”

Two of the coworkers looked at the couple and sighed, while Camil whispered an explanation to me as usual.

“Are people jealous of them?”

“More so of Hughes.”

“Lulunese was popular with the single men who work here.”

“People are happy for her, but most of the men we work with don’t have much luck with women, so that doesn’t inspire much goodwill toward Hughes.”

Much like how I felt when I heard about Lulunese’s marriage, it sounded like a lot of people were envious.

“Well, it’s settled down a lot recently. The jealousy is still focused on Hughes, but it’s little more than gentle teasing. People always liked him, and his lifestyle has changed a lot since he announced his engagement.”

“He’s been drinking less, and he started trying to get a promotion about a week ago.”

Intrigued, I asked Jill for more details. Hughes was first introduced to me as an escort, but his official job was as a security guard for the Jamil family. He spent most of his time guarding the Jamil estate, but sometimes attended to the family when they went out. There were many ranks and roles that security guards fit into, and while Hughes had been performing well ever since he was first hired, back when he used to be an adventurer, he was not very accepting of getting a promotion.

“They’ve talked before about putting him in a slightly higher position, but he always just said it’d be a pain. Now that he’s getting married, though, he’s asking for a promotion himself. Man, you never know how a person might change.”

“I see. Do you think he’ll be able to get a promotion? Considering all the times he’s turned one down.”

“Oh, that won’t be a problem. He’s been training for office work, so he can get one. If he does well enough there, he should be able to move up to some extent; enough for a salary that can support a family, at least. His history of rejecting promotions has had some effect, though. That, and his instructor’s jealousy has made his training somewhat rough. It would’ve been easy if he just trained for this gradually over time, but now his laziness is all coming back to bite him.”

“Hughes just hates writing reports and stuff.”

Jill had a nasty smile. It didn’t sound like they viewed him coldly, though. It was nice to see that Hughes didn’t have to work in the kind of environment I did on Earth.

“What’ve you all been talking about while we were discussing these statues?” Hughes asked. “Ryoma, what’s with that weirdly warm expression?”

“Oh, nothing,” I said. I was just happy for him. “Is there anything you need besides the statues?” I figured maybe they needed gifts or something else as well. I’d never taken part in a wedding before, so I was curious.

“Well, we already have gifts for all the guests, so nothing to worry about there. Was there anything else? I think we’ve got most of what we need, right?”

“Thankfully the servants have been helping us, so there’s nothing in particular I can think of,” Lulunese said. “Would you like to join our planning session? It will start after the servants are done with their work, so it will be rather late.”

Representatives of the servants, guards, and all other departments gathered each night to discuss wedding preparations. That sounded like a good place to ask all about the wedding, so I was quick to accept their invitation.

If their coworkers would go that far for them, they must have loved these two. I wondered what happened right after I died. It must have been hard for the landlady to rent out a room someone had died in. I guess Tabuchi would have been sad, and maybe some other people, but my boss probably didn’t give a crap. He would’ve just been mad that my work wasn’t getting done. I had to feel bad for whoever got my work. As for everyone else, I couldn’t imagine they had much of a reaction. Back when I was technically in some leadership position, they hated any attempt at guidance that I gave. Compared to my experiences, it was incredible that these two could be so loved at work.

“You’re really lucky to have great coworkers. Don’t take them for granted,” I said.

“What are you, our dad or something?! Seriously, what?!” Hughes cried.

“Why are you being so protective of us, Master Ryoma?” Lulunese asked.

“He doesn’t sound like he’s joking, either.”

“It’s almost uncanny how sincere he is.”

“What’s up with you, Ryoma?”

That strangely good-natured mood in the room hung around until another maid came to announce that dinner was ready.