In a Different World with a Smartphone (LN) - Volume 27 - Chapter 3

 Chapter III: The Prismatis Rite

“Hngh... Come oooooon! Hrrrrrrghghgh!”

Linne and Frei looked at me from afar as I made a bunch of loud noises, a volleyball-sized clump of light in my hands all the while.

“Dad, your face is very strange...”

“Well...he’s often got some kind of strange look on his face, right? It’s not that weird. He’s just eccentric.”

Their words reached my ears, prompting my eye to twitch.

Eccentric? I’m just trying to make a sacred treasure here! Auuugh!

My concentration broke, sending the clump of light blasting off into a corner of the room. It dissipated into particles that rained down to the floor.

“Failed again...” I mumbled as I slumped back, depressed. The process was taxing not only on my body, but my mana and divinity reserves as well.

“I don’t really get it, but you messed up, didn’t you?”

“Yeaaah...”

Linne asked an innocent question, but all I could do was sigh out a response.

What I was trying to create right now was the sacred core, the centerpiece of any sacred treasure. It was the source of a sacred treasure’s power. Basically, a souped-up divine battery.

The process of condensing your own divinity down into a core was more than a little demanding. As a dependent of God Almighty, I had enough divinity within me to match a senior-level god already. But that didn’t make it any easier. It was like folding a piece of paper in half, then folding it in half again, then folding it in half again. It was easy to make that first fold, but it would become progressively harder to compress.

I remembered seeing some factoid on TV once, that if you could fold a piece of paper a tenth of a millimeter thick over twenty-six times, it’d be thicker than Mt. Fuji’s height... I found that hard to believe, personally. In any case, it was just hard to control the amount of force needed to condense my power into this core. If I pushed on one side, it’d bulge out the other side. If I pushed that bulge, then it’d just push out somewhere else. I was finding it almost impossible to focus my power the right way.

The god of crafting had given me this exercise as my first piece of homework. He’d also told me to figure out a suitable vessel for the sacred treasure, but I hadn’t worked that out yet either.

I didn’t know if the diving suit guy was using simple transportation magic or if he was utilizing the wicked god’s divinity to warp himself. That was why I needed to create a sacred treasure that would have the effect of blocking that ability. But what kind of item would make a suitable vessel for that function? I couldn’t be sure.

If I used a bow, I’d thereby create a sacred weapon with the ability to block warping for anyone hit by one of its arrows. It would have to be wielded by someone who was a brilliant archer, and they’d have to actually hit the guy before he managed to warp away. What if he was riding in one of those Kyklops things?

I considered making an accessory or jewel with an effect that blocked warping for anyone within a certain range, but apparently, my current abilities could only make something that could cover about a ten-meter radius at best. And if you were in a situation where you were within ten meters of the guy, then you’d be better off just having a weapon...

Another frustrating aspect was that I couldn’t wield whatever I made myself. If I could do that, I’d just make a shortsword with the ability to prevent warping from anyone stabbed by it, then cast [Teleport] to appear behind the guy and stab him. Nothing personal, easily done.

But unfortunately, I was among the gods now, so I couldn’t do that. Yumina and my other wives were also touched with enough divinity that you could consider them angels, so they weren’t allowed to wield anything in my stead either.

I was thinking of just having Ende do it, but apparently, he wasn’t allowed to either. He’d spent so much time training with Uncle Takeru that he’d become a full-on dependent of the god of combat. That meant I had a very narrow list of people I could trust to actually wield whatever the hell I made. I didn’t even want to think about it, but there really was only one suitable choice...

I glanced over at my children. They were demigods, obviously, but they were mortal. They weren’t beneficiaries of my divinity. They were the ideal candidates to entrust with this kind of thing, but a big part of me really didn’t want to get them involved in the fight against the wicked devout.

“What’s wrong, dad?”

“Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

Linne caught me pondering to myself. I brushed off her question and patted her on the head.

The Phrase girls could probably handle it. I could definitely ask Melle, Ney, or Lycee to do it...but we were dealing with divinity here, even if it was muddied. My demigod children were the ideal picks to fend that kind of thing off...

Plus, apparently, I’d be making a sacred treasure with enough divinity for a senior-grade god infused into it. The god of crafting told me it probably wouldn’t be usable by any old regular human. There were post-creation methods of whittling some divinity out of the item so it could be used by normal humans, but I was such a novice that any chance of mastering that skill in the near future was completely out of the window.

My children were born with half my divinity, which meant they’d be perfectly compatible with anything created from my divinity. They had my blood, so there’d be no problem with them being able to handle things that came from me.

I decided to worry about this mess later. I’d perfect creating the sacred core before worrying about the vessel.

“Awright! Let’s do this!” I exclaimed as I started to condense my divinity again.

“Hngh... Come oooooon! Hrrrrrrghghgh!”

“...You really look weird.”

I found myself distracted by Linne’s cruel words, and my divinity began to bulge out of shape again.

Yeah, I’ve hit a wall here. I should stop for now.

“I’m beat... Time for a little rest and relaxation.”

I sat down on a bench in the courtyard and leaned back. Part of me was concerned about slouching and looking so lazy in front of my kids, but a larger part of me really didn’t care at this point. They’d probably seen me in worse states in the future, anyway.

I was still blessed by God Almighty, so I didn’t exactly lose much divinity...but trying to make a sacred core was just really tiring. I thought after becoming a god I’d never get this fatigued again. Clearly, I was wrong. Not even using [Refresh] did anything to alleviate my tired state, so the cause had to be something more than magic.

I rested for a while, wheezing and grumbling. Linne and Frei got bored of staring at me, tottering off someplace else.

How could they abandon their own father in his hour of need?

I spent a while longer resting on the bench before Yumina came charging across the courtyard. Was something wrong?

“Touya! It’s Kuon! Kuon!”

“Huh?! Kuon?! What’s wrong?!”

I hadn’t seen Kuon all morning, and now something was wrong? What had happened? I hurriedly rose from the bench.

“He’s on another date today!”

“Huh? Oh...right.”

I glanced once at Yumina’s smiling face, sighed, then sat back down on the bench. She’d gotten me all worried for nothing.

“With Allis, I assume?”

“Mhm. They’re basically made for each other, don’t you think? Both head over heels.”

Yumina giggled to herself as she sat by my side.

Both head over heels? I dunno, it felt kind of one-sided to me.

“What would you think of Allis, anyway? As Kuon’s fiancée, I mean.”

“Aren’t you moving a bit fast? He’s only six.”

It was true that he was the prince of Brunhild and we’d need to ensure he had a stable future, but he technically hadn’t even been born yet.

“The earlier we get any succession concerns out of the way, the better. The sooner he finds a fiancée, the sooner we can properly educate her to make sure she’s a suitable royal partner.”

“I get what you’re saying from a pragmatic perspective, yeah...”

Yumina had a point that queens, or grand duchesses in the case of Kuon’s future wife or wives, would need to have an air of regality, decorum, and civility to them. Hell, without Yumina to help me out, I’d have been completely lost in terms of royal manners. Hilde and Lu grew up with a royal education, so they were fine. Sue was brought up a little more casually, but she still mostly knew her manners when they counted. Yae, Elze, and Linze weren’t quite so good with it, though. The three of them definitely didn’t enjoy going to royal parties overseas.

“Should we even be pairing him up with Allis? Isn’t she a commoner by birth?”

“...Touya, aren’t you a commoner by birth?”

Oh yeah. Damn. I just got hoisted on my own petard. Not that I actually care about whatever social status Allis has, of course. I just want to make sure it’s okay!

“If you’re worried about international image, we could just make Ende a Brunhild noble. Then she’d be a well-to-do young lady from an upstanding house.”

“That might take some work...”

Ende as a noble? I don’t even know if he’d accept that proposition. Hell, I could see him rejecting the position specifically to lower his daughter’s chances of being wed to my son.

“Then why not make Melle the noble?”

“That might take some work...”

It was true that if Melle was promoted to nobility, then Allis would be noble by relation...but could Allis even be taught proper noble manners? I was a little bit worried any lessons in that area would just fall on deaf ears.

“That’s exactly why we need to bring it up while she’s still here in the past. We can start her earlier. I suppose if Allis isn’t the main wife and takes her place as a backing duchess, then it’d be less important, but...”

In my case, all my wives were the main wives. None of them served as supporting or backing royals. I would personally have been happy to see Brunhild keep that as a tradition, but if all future wives remained equal there could be succession disputes.

The general custom of the firstborn son ruling was probably fine, but there was always the risk of future firstborns being ill-suited for the job or just unpleasant people altogether. I didn’t want to see my country collapse in the future due to petty things like that, so I still had to properly iron out what we’d be doing in terms of future succession plans.

“How do you know Kuon’s even gonna have a backing wife? He might only get married to the one.”

“Ridiculous! Don’t you see how suave, intelligent, and gentle our son is?! We won’t be able to keep the bachelorettes away from him! He’ll make all the women of the world fall in love with him, Touya! He’ll have more wives than you!”

...Wow, you’re being dead serious, aren’t you?

Yumina’s eyes were blazing. Our son was definitely a pretty cool kid, though. I agreed with that. Still, I personally felt he should try to keep his wife count down... It could cause dicey situations. In fact, Kuon probably already knew that, having grown up with so many mothers.

“I’ll be a mother-in-law to all of them, so we’d all better get along. I’m sure there’ll be lots and lots of children too... We’ll be grandparents to a beautiful bunch, I know it!”

“Hey, hey, hey. Slow the heck down!”

Why the hell are you talking about grandkids? Our son hasn’t even been born yet! Calm down!

Yumina couldn’t calm down when it came to Kuon, and her helicopter parenting had only gotten worse lately. Surely I didn’t look as ridiculous as she did from an outside perspective, right? I wasn’t that bad, right? Surely not...

Putting the matter of grandchildren aside, I told Yumina that it was still too early to decide on marriage and whatnot. I wanted my children to get married for love, not for political purposes, so I was fine with the only person knowing that part of the future being Granny Tokie.

It was possible that Allis could fall for someone else over time, or Kuon might decide to pursue someone else too. If we rushed them into matchmaking only for the engagement to break up down the line due to things like that, it’d only hurt the two of them. I knew for a fact if something like that happened, Ende would go ballistic on us too...and I didn’t want the country to be at risk of ruin because of his overprotective nature.

I was definitely on board for educating Allis like a proper lady, though. She was a good girl, so I wanted her to be able to join in on playing with my kids. I was sure if we included Melle in the lessons, she’d take to it quite well.

The future me would probably make a point to bring it up while Allis was still young. Probably.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Hey, Kuon! Look! Look how cute this is!”

“Hmm? A wooden cat? It’s definitely detailed, and it has a nice finish. Good find, Allis.”

Allis smiled as she held out the little cat figurine toward Kuon.

Kuon’s analysis was rather dry and direct, probably because he was something of an artisan himself. Allis only really cared about the cute aspect, however.

“You’ve a good eye for crafts, lad. That one was made by a master woodworker who recently popped up in Mismede. It’s cheap right now, but I bet the value’ll only go up over time.”

The Strand Company shopkeeper approached the two youngsters. The canid beastman showed them a selection of other wooden crafts that were made by the same man. Kuon could tell even at a glance that they were of the highest possible grade. It was no lie that they’d only appreciate in value.

“That wooden bear carving is so realistic... That must be one godly craftsman...”

Kuon had no idea how accurate his assessment actually was. In truth, however, the carving he was marveling over was only a casual creation. If the god of crafting really focused, his output would be far higher in quality.

“I kind of want this bear...”

“Why not buy it, then? The grand duke gave you pocket money the other day, right?”

A short time ago, Kuon had taken down a long-extinct monster known as the Marchosias. Kuon had asked for help from his father to auction off the beast’s carcass, and he’d netted himself a reasonable allowance of gold coins from the venture.

It was an absurd amount of money for any child, really. It was about the equivalent of a hundred thousand yen. Though, truth be told, Kuon had access to far greater riches in the future he’d come from. Compared to that, this felt a bit paltry.

Kuon was definitely interested in buying the bear carving, but his mother had raised him with a strict mentality related to not squandering money on petty or wasteful things. The poor boy was struggling with his desire versus his values.

“Hrm...”

“I’ll buy it, then. Hey mister! I want that bear!”

“Hm?”

“Of course. Thank you for your patronage.”

Before Kuon even knew what was happening, Allis had already taken the bear over to the counter and purchased it.

The girl grinned, waggling a paper bag in front of Kuon. He grumbled quietly.

“Here you go, a present!”

“Huh? Um... Th-Thanks?”

Allis casually handed the bag over, and Kuon awkwardly accepted it. The girl smiled wider, then not-so-subtly glanced over at the cat figurine she’d been eyeing up earlier.

Kuon suddenly realized the implication and took it over to the counter to buy it with his own money. This time he took his paper bag and handed it over to Allis.

“Here you go. A present.”

“Thanks, Kuon!”

He’d received the bear he wanted as a present, then he’d spent his money paying back that gesture. Logically speaking, he couldn’t call that wasteful or frivolous spending.

Kuon couldn’t help but be impressed by Allis, who’d noticed his hesitation and acted on the spot. She’d grown up with him, so she had a good understanding of how his mind worked. Kuon didn’t know if she simply knew by instinct or by careful observation, though.

“Thanks, mister!”

The two left the Strand Company store, placing their new trinkets in their phone [Storage] as they walked out the front door.

“So, where to next?”

“Somewhere relaxing. We need to take all the time we can get away from that stupid sword.”

The stupid sword Allis mentioned was the silver crown, Silver. The sword was currently with Elluka in Babylon’s research laboratory. She was attempting to stimulate Gold’s lost memories by interfacing the two crowns.

Since Silver and Gold were created around the same time, Elluka theorized that she could determine their structural similarities and maybe uncover more information about the two of them by scanning them simultaneously.

Allis saw the opportunity to go out on a date without anyone butting in, so she dragged Kuon out almost immediately. Kuon was also a little thankful, as he was starting to get a bit fed up with his sword and his friend constantly bickering in his presence. The boy was ready to have a peaceful day...or at least, that was what he’d hoped.

Unfortunately, Kuon had been sensing someone gazing over at him for a while now. It was a gaze laced with grudge, malice, and envy. An indescribably focused gaze that was solely squared on him.

Only he’d noticed it, though. He cautiously glanced to the side, hoping to catch a glimpse of who was following him. When he realized who it was, he let out a deep sigh. It was definitely going to be a pain in the ass.

“What’s wrong, Kuon?”

“Uhhh... I mean...”

Allis glanced over at where Kuon was looking, noticing the person he was looking at.

“Huh? Dad?”

“O-Oh, hey Allis! Ha ha! Fancy seeing you here!”

A young man with grayish hair and a long white scarf awkwardly walked out from the shadow of a building. Kuon knew that this was no coincidence. Ende had been tailing them for a while now. He held his tongue, though, as he didn’t want to make a scene.

The boy simply smiled and gave a polite greeting instead.

“Good day to you, sir.”

“Yo.”

Ende smiled brightly, but Kuon could see through it. His eyes weren’t nearly as bright. The man was just like this in the future as well.

“Oh, Endymion. That’s where you ran off to. Hm, Allis is here as well? Is something wrong?”

“Mother Ney!”

Ney, one of Allis’s mothers, came around a nearby corner. She held a paper bag in her arms that was overflowing with fruit.

Ende had apparently come out shopping with Ney. When he’d spotted his daughter happily coming out of the Strand store with Kuon, he felt like he had to investigate. Even at this young age, he’d become a hopeless stalker...

“Good day to you, ma’am.”

“Oh, hello. Out with each other, are you? Enjoying your day, Allis?”

“Yup!”

Ney smiled gently, an expression far and away from any she would’ve made in the long past. She gently stroked her daughter’s hair.

“Kuon. Would you like to come to ours for lunch?”

“Huh? Really?”

“Of course. I enjoy entertaining guests from time to time. But there’s more than that. Lycee and Lady Melle have a matter they want to discuss with you.”

Kuon was surprised yet intrigued by the sudden invitation. It was already past noon, so he and Allis were already considering going back to the castle for a late lunch. The two of them could’ve just gone to a diner or coffee shop, but they were just two young children to anyone looking in from the outside. That in and of itself would inevitably attract attention, and Kuon didn’t want to get mixed up in anything troublesome. He just wanted a relaxing day.

“Let’s go, Kuon! My place is closer than the castle!”

“Mmm...”

Kuon was fine to go back with Ney, but he cast a glance over at Ende before saying anything. Ende’s expression seemed normal enough, but the young boy had noticed that his eyebrows were knitted closer together.

Kuon was well aware of Ende’s strange animosity toward him. He was fairly sure that the man just didn’t like him at all. He was also aware of the reason. Fathers were often unreasonably protective of their daughters. His own father, Touya, was certainly no exception.

In the future, Touya had made Kuon use his mystic eye to check the hearts of just about any boy that got close to the girls in his family. Kuon didn’t necessarily have a problem with doing this, though. He didn’t exactly want any bad people getting involved with his sisters, after all.

The situation was a little dicey, but it was just lunch... Surely it couldn’t go that badly.

“...I’ll gladly accept your offer, then.”

Though he was still a bit nervous about Ende’s presence, Kuon accepted Ney’s offer.

◇ ◇ ◇

After heading through the main street of Brunhild Castle town, you’ll eventually reach a residential district. There were residents who’d been in the country since it was founded, and immigrants who’d come in later on. The older settlers were in an area called Old Town, while the newcomers were in New Town. There wasn’t actually any real difference between the buildings, though. Brunhild was still a pretty young country. Old Town did have a little more Eashenese flavor to it, though, as many had come from Eashen during the earliest days of Brunhild’s founding.

The home that Ende, Melle, Ney, and Lycee lived in was in New Town. It was a reasonably sized estate with a red roof that was situated on a little hill.

Touya hadn’t prepared the home for Ende and his family. It was actually built by Ende himself using the money he’d earned from his guild quests. He could’ve built a bigger one, but the one they had right now was more than enough for their family. Melle and the other Phrase girls said that if they had money to build a bigger house, it’d be better spent on food.

The home was pleasant, with a large garden out front. It looked mostly the same as the house Allis remembered from her time period, minus a few extensions which were yet to come. It felt familiar. Kuon had visited the home multiple times in the future he’d come from, so he felt about the same.

Ende, Ney, Allis, and Kuon passed through the gate. They then walked down the garden path until they reached the front door.

“I’m home.”

“Welcome back, Ney. Nice to see you, Kuon.”

“Thank you for having me.”

Melle greeted them at the door. She’d apparently been called in advance and told about Kuon’s arrival.

Melle was very much the lady of the house. Ende, Ney, and Lycee were all married to her, and the household revolved around her. Ende was the primary breadwinner, though.

“Where’s Lycee?”

“In the kitchen, doing some preparation. Go help her.”

Ende nodded and did as Melle told him. He was also the one responsible for most of the household’s meals. The girls hadn’t ever learned to cook, as their species did not need to eat food. That was why Ende found himself relegated to the kitchen so much.

Lycee had been learning enough to help him out, but it hadn’t reached the point where he completely trusted her to cook on her own, especially not when it came to cooking with fire... There’d been a few incidents already that led him to that conclusion.

Kuon was shown to the living room. He settled down on a nearby couch. Allis, naturally, planted herself right next to him.

“You two are close, aren’t you?”

“Yeah! We’ve been together since we were little!”

“We’re quite close, yes.”

The two replied to Ney’s observation, prompting Melle and the other woman to smile at each other.

“This may come off as premature, but...” Melle turned to Kuon and began speaking. “Do you intend to take my Allis as your wife in the future?”

“Aaah! Mooom! You can’t just say things like thaaat!”

Melle’s words caused Allis to fidget, her cheeks flushing red. Kuon, in stark contrast, simply looked up at the ceiling and furrowed his brow in thought.

“That’s a rather difficult question to answer right now, don’t you think?”

“Huh? What do you mean, Kuon?! Is there some other girl you like more than me?! Who?! Hey! Do I know her? Is she stronger than me? Hey! Is she better than me? Kuon! Aren’t I your best girl? Hey, c’mon. Hey. Heeeey...”

All the vigor in the young girl’s eyes faded as she loomed over Kuon. Melle and Ney were both caught off guard, having never seen their daughter act so crazy before. It was as if a dark aura was manifesting around her...

Kuon didn’t seem all that worried, however. He just shook his head and calmly began to speak.

“No. It’s not that. There are certainly no other girls.”

“Oh! Yay!”

Allis smiled wide, leaning back again. The light had returned to her eyes. Melle and Ney were both a bit stunned by the sudden transformation, but they turned back to Kuon.

“What’s difficult about it, exactly?”

“Consider my position as heir to this country’s throne. My future wife would become the grand duchess. If I marry a woman unsuited to that role, then the country would suffer for it. It’s a choice I have to take great care with.”

“What?! You’re saying I’m not worthy?”

“Allis, listen, being royalty is a great deal of work. There’s court etiquette, dancing, socializing in high society, entertaining foreign royals, and much more. Can you say with a straight face that you have the necessary skills for all of those things?”

“Grrrgh!” Allis grumbled and pouted, unable to refute Kuon’s point.

“Necessary skills? You speak of being royal as if it’s a job.”

“I don’t think it’s unreasonable to think of it that way. A grand duchess is the same as any other queen or empress. She has much to do. There are those born with the right aptitude, and those who want it enough to adapt,” Kuon calmly replied to Ney’s inquiry.

Kuon’s own father, Touya, had basically been forced to learn and adapt to the realities of royal life after becoming engaged to royalty. If Allis were to do the same, then she’d have to adapt to the realities of it as well.

Elze, Linze, and Yae had to do so when they became grand duchesses of Brunhild. Yumina, Lu, and the others didn’t have to do this as they’d already been raised in high society.

“It’s certainly true that a royal’s partner would need to have the appropriate aptitude for high society. I could easily see low confidence inspiring negativity in the populace, and perhaps even social collapse if she performed poorly enough,” Ney replied, displaying a levelheaded understanding of Kuon’s point. This was a bit unusual, as Ney typically doted over Allis and defended her fiercely.

Melle cleared her throat and spoke up to refute her point, however, saying, “Goodness, Ney. You’re being oddly supportive of Kuon here, aren’t you?”

“With all due respect, Lady Melle, I did have to suffer the social fallout that ensued after a certain sovereign fled our home world with a partner who her people disapproved of.”

“Ugh!” Melle grumbled softly. Ney’s words stung a little. As the Sovereign Phrase, Melle had undoubtedly failed in her purpose. She’d damaged the society of her people. Melle certainly didn’t think her choice of partner was a mistake, but her subjects who remained back on Phrasia must’ve absolutely thought that was the case.

“B-But if we have Allis get a proper ladylike education, then there’ll be no issue, yes?”

“That’s true enough. I’d be thankful if you could do that, actually. Allis is the person closest to me in my age bracket, so her companionship would be preferable in the long term.”

It was at this moment that Melle realized Kuon still didn’t have much of a grasp on what love was. If he ended up falling for someone else in the future, Allis would surely be heartbroken. To prevent such a future from coming to pass, she resolved to imprint Allis upon him in the here and now, to make sure she’d be the only one for him.

If Kuon were to become the leader of Brunhild, he could take supporting wives...but from Melle’s perspective, having her daughter be anything but the primary wife was simply unacceptable. Allis needed to reign as a magnificent grand duchess, to live a happy and fulfilling life with her one and only.

Fortunately, Kuon was clearly a young man who placed importance on things both official and personal. Thus, if they could simply prove Allis as a capable royal in his eyes, her position would be all but secured.

“Allis, we’re going to have Yumina provide you with a proper education in formal etiquette.”

“Weeeh? But that sounds lame...”

Melle’s words caused Allis to grumble. Ney gave an awkward smile before following up with some words of her own.

“You’ll surely lose Kuon to a foreign princess if you don’t learn proper manners, Allis. You don’t want that to happen, right?”

“...That’d be bad.”

“If another girl became Kuon’s fiancée, she’d be right by his side for the rest of their lives. You’d be second-best... No, you might even be third or fourth...”

“What? No way! I’m Kuon’s best girl! We’ve been together since we were really little, so there’s no way I’d be second. I’m number one, right? Right, Kuon? Right? Look at me.”

The luster faded from her eyes once more, and Allis began looming over Kuon, who was not shaken by this in the least, his response remaining as casual as ever.

“I’d say so, yes. Putting my sisters aside, you’re the closest girl to me in my age bracket.”

“See?! There you go!”

The light easily returned to her eyes again.

“But that’s not really the point of concern. As grand duke, I’ll need to carry the weight of Brunhild. If I’m to take a wife, it’ll need to be someone ready and suited to share that burden.”

“You’re young, but you sure know your stuff...”

“Thank you.”

Ney couldn’t help but be impressed by Kuon’s manner. She admired his readiness to rule. It reminded her of how Melle had once been back on Phrasia. A noble and resolute sovereign who did not bend or break. To stand behind that figure, it would only be natural you’d have to have an equally powerful will.

Ney looked over at Allis.

“What do you want out of this?”

“...Well...Kuon, will you be happy if I get that education and become good enough to be royal?”

“I’d say so, yes. I’ll have to get married at some point, so it’d be much easier if I was to marry you.”

“Then I’ll do my best. I wanna be with Kuon, so I’ll do it!”

Kuon noticed a spark of motivation that hadn’t previously been present in Allis’s eyes.

Upon seeing her daughter’s newfound resolve, Melle realized why her future self hadn’t properly educated Allis in royal etiquette from birth. It was so the girl would be able to find her own motivation in her own time. Committing to the royal lifestyle was something you could only do with the right mindset, and it seemed like Allis was ready at last.

Melle could almost picture it in her mind’s eye. She knew then and there that Allis could become a proper duchess if she put her mind to it. Besides, the girl was the direct offspring of the Sovereign Phrase. Surely she held the innate qualities of leadership that her mother had... Probably.

“That being said, Allis...if you become Kuon’s wife, you might not be the only one. Will you be okay sharing him with secondary, tertiary, or even more wives?” Ney quickly asked, not wanting the girl to go into this unprepared.

“Like how Kuon’s dad has other wives? That won’t matter if I get to be with Kuon. Besides, I don’t think Kuon would marry anyone I don’t like!”

“That’s certainly true. I’ve read up on many a royal family that dissolved due to problems within the castle. I’ve no intention of taking up any additional brides that don’t get along well with my first one.”

Kuon’s words brought a small measure of relief to Ney. She’d remembered that dark aura emanating from the girl earlier and had been frightened by the idea of it coming out in the direction of another woman. But apparently, Allis was happy with anything so long as she was Kuon’s number one.

“Very well, then. Let’s put the engagement talk aside and ask Yumina about educating Allis in royal manners.”

“Good luck, Allis.”

“I’ll do my best!”

Kuon got the impression something major was being decided here, but he didn’t seem to care all that much. He was just fine accepting any fiancée that wasn’t a hassle, and Allis would probably be the least amount of hassle. It wasn’t that he was coldhearted or that he had no love in him for Allis...but more that he had familial feelings toward her rather than romantic ones. It was an innate downside to her being his childhood friend.

Kuon quietly sipped tea with the trio. After a short while, Lycee appeared with a large tray.

“Sorry for the wait. We’ve got cutlets and curry for lunch.”

“Yay!”

“Oooh. Cutlets and curry? That’s great.”

Allis and Ney were positively glowing at the sight before them. Kuon thought that curry was a bit heavy for lunch, but he didn’t say anything. He was a guest, after all. He liked curry well enough, and he could certainly eat a portion of it.

Ende came into the room with a big pot in his hands, which contained the curry itself.

Ney and Melle headed into the kitchen, bringing in a massive bowl of rice and what Kuon could only describe as an actual mountain of fried pork cutlets. Apparently, they were for second helpings...and third, and fourth... Melle, Ney, and Lycee ate large amounts of food regularly. Allis did as well, which wasn’t a surprise given she was their daughter.

Kuon knew about their mealtime eccentricities, so he wasn’t quite surprised by this...but he had to admit the sheer quantity of the food in front of him was impressive.

Melle placed a bowl of food in front of Kuon.

“Eat as much as you like. We’ve got more than enough for seconds.”

“Thank you kindly.”

Kuon definitely didn’t think he’d be asking for seconds, but he gladly picked up his spoon and began to eat. The meal in front of him wasn’t the national dish of Mismede, but instead the typical Japanese curry that Touya had introduced to this world. Kuon had regularly eaten it since he was a child...not that he wasn’t still a child, of course.

The boy brought a spoonful of rice and curry into his mouth. He then took a moment to enjoy the spice and savory taste. It was a bit spicier than the curries he was used to. Not so spicy that it lingered overlong, but it had a kick strong enough to make you want to take another spoonful. The meat wasn’t anything particularly out of the ordinary. It just looked like a bunch of pork cutlets, breaded and fried. The vegetables mixed into the roux were a simple mix of potato, carrot, and onion. Overall, it wasn’t an unusual dish from his perspective. It was as normal as curry could be.

Kuon turned his attention to the cutlets. They were sliced thinner than he was used to. He wondered if they’d beaten them to flatten them out and make them easier to eat. He stabbed at a piece with a fork before mixing it with the roux and putting it in his mouth. The crunchy texture of the fried meat mingled with the taste of the curry, creating a harmonious sensation in his mouth. Kuon found himself taken aback slightly.

The curry roux had pork mixed in, so he’d assumed these would be pork cutlets...but the taste in his mouth wasn’t that of pork at all. It wasn’t beef, poultry, or lamb either. It was something else...

“Are these Dragon cutlets?”

“Oh, you noticed? We got some good cuts, so I decided to put them to use. It’s mature Dragon meat, so it’s got a richer and fuller flavor to it.”

“I’m the one who sourced the meat and cooked it, you know?” Ende sighed slightly in the face of Lycee’s unwarranted bragging.

The more magic in a magical beast’s flesh, the tastier it tended to be. A better way to put it would be that the stronger a beast, the nicer it would taste. That was why it only made sense that a mature Dragon, mightiest among its kind, would taste great.

Kuon was royalty, so he’d eaten Dragon meat plenty of times already, but even he had to remark on the quality of the meat on his fork. He began to chow down more vigorously. One of the mottos of the Mochizuki family was to enjoy good food whenever presented with the opportunity.

“Enjoying it, Kuon?”

“Yes, it’s very nice.”

Kuon nodded to Allis as he brought another bite of Dragon cutlet to his mouth. The curry was incredibly good. To Kuon, the most surprising thing about the meal was that it tasted as good as the curries made by Lu or Arcia.

“I’ll learn to cook too, then!”

“Oh, you wanna learn?! Your old man’ll teach you, Allis. We’ll have you cooking basic recipes in no time at all. I started learning when I was little too.”

Ende got excited when his daughter mentioned being interested in cooking. In that moment, he pictured a wonderful scene in his mind. Him and his daughter standing side by side in the kitchen, laughing and smiling together as they prepared a meal... However, that illusion was shattered by what his daughter said next.

“If I learn to cook, I can make nice things for Kuon every single day!”

“Gwagh!”

Ende felt physically struck by the remark, and it took all of his energy not to slump forward and drown in his curry. Allis kept on eating her meal, completely oblivious to her father’s misery.

“Hmm... Learning how to cook sounds smart to me, Allis. It’ll be good for you to know how to feed your family.”

“If you think that way, Ney, then why not learn as well? I’ve picked up a thing or two since I started learning.”

“M-Me? Cook? I’m not built for that. You wouldn’t want me wasting our precious ingredients, would you?” Ney awkwardly muttered to herself, poking at her rice as she fended off Lycee’s teasing. Melle stifled a gentle laugh.

“My, I think it’d be wonderful if Allis learned. I wonder if that’s similar to what Yae was saying, preparing to be a good wife and such?”

“H-Hey, don’t you think Allis is a bit young to be talking about that? She’s way too little to think about marriage, and she doesn’t even have to get married if she doesn’t want to...”

Ende’s hands trembled as he tried to eat his curry. He couldn’t prevent his eye from twitching. Melle ignored him completely and went on to say something that would no doubt cause catastrophic damage to his soul.

“For now, yes, but I’ll be talking with Yumina about getting Allis some proper etiquette lessons so she can be formally betrothed to Kuon.”

“What?! Nobody told me about that!”

Ende rose from his seat, the spoon in his hand bending slightly. His face had grown paler than usual and his expression was a union of frustration and despair.

Lycee spoke up, her expression unchanging as she wiped her mouth.

“That’s news to me as well.”

“Mmm... It was decided some time ago. Allis would like to be the grand duchess of Brunhild someday, so we’ll be supporting her to that end.”

“Oh my... That’s a wonderful goal, Allis. You truly are our daughter, aren’t you?”

“He he he... Thank you, mom.”

Allis purred like a kitten as Lycee stroked a hand through her hair. The reaction was so cute that the head pats continued for a while longer.

“Why are you making such absurd plans so soon, and without my input to boot?!”

“It wasn’t a trivial decision. It’s just a conclusion we came to after taking stock of any feelings Allis might have.”

“So the discussion’s concluded already?!”

Ende was furious that something so huge had been decided without them even consulting him.

“I can’t possibly approve of this!”

“...Dad?”

“Forget I said that. It’s okay.”

All it took was one glum glance from his darling daughter to get Ende calmed down and back in his seat. He truly was a moron in this department.

The man suddenly regained his composure, making a strange and almost giddy expression as he began to speak.

“...Allis is my daughter, but she’s also the daughter of the Sovereign Phrase... In other words, that makes her Phrasian royalty. Isn’t there a special trial that all royal suitors-to-be must undergo back on Phrasia? It’s an ordeal I had to go through when I told Melle my feelings, as I recall...”

“Endymion, you can’t mean...”

Ney’s eyes went wide. Melle and Lycee also looked stunned.

“To think you’d dig up that of all things...”

“Ever the sore loser, aren’t you?”

Ende tactically ignored the comments from Melle and Lycee as he turned to Kuon with a grin.

“If you want to marry my daughter, you’ll have to brave the Prismatis Rite.”

◇ ◇ ◇

“The Prismatis Rite? What’s that?”

“Phrase life-forms reproduce through parthenogenesis... Er, I mean, they can have babies all on their own. By nature, they don’t require things like husbands or wives. However, children birthed through that method are functionally copies of the parent. They have similar capabilities and appearances. If they wanted a different or stronger child, they’d require a nucleus, a core in other words, from another Phrase. That’d be equivalent to a partner in human terms.”

“Indeed. Though in this case, the partner is really more of a nucleus donor than anything else. They aren’t usually involved beyond that,” Ney added to Ende’s explanation.

Dominant Phrase life-forms can produce offspring on their own, but you can’t really consider them to be children. They grow out from cores as fully formed adults, after all. Any offspring produced this way would never be able to exceed their parent in terms of strength. Thus, if they wanted to create a newer organism, they needed to take the nucleus, the core, from another dominant Phrase and combine it with their own.

“A Sovereign among the Phrase, as the apex of the species, must create stronger offspring for the good of the next generation. That’s why past Sovereigns rarely created offspring on their own. It was only a method employed in emergencies.”

“A Sovereign’s partner couldn’t just be anyone, of course. That’s where the Prismatis Rite comes into play. It’s the method by which the Sovereign’s mate is decided.”

“I see.”

Kuon nodded along with Ney and Ende’s explanation. In short, it was an elaborate method of determining a partner. It was a traditional way for the Phrase to establish a royal betrothal.

There were similar traditions back on Earth, involving dowries and such. Proposals were verbal promises, but dowries solidified the marriage process as a transaction. It made it a formal agreement. In recent years, marriage had become seen as more of a matter between the husband and wife, so families are much less involved. The vast majority of modern marriages didn’t involve things like dowries or gift exchanges. The families of the couples usually did meet before the ceremony, though.

In this world, there was a long-standing custom of gifts being prepared by the bride or groom’s family. It was often a symbol of the family’s pledge to look after their new son-in-law or daughter-in-law as a member of their own, but there were still political marriages made purely for the sake of the gifts. That wasn’t really related to what was going on here, though...

“So you’re saying that for Allis to be my fiancée, I have to go through this Prismatis Rite?”

“Precisely.”

Ende smirked as he spoke.

Melle curled a brow before raising her hand and speaking.

“That rite is for the Sovereign of the Phrase, isn’t it? We’ve abandoned my home world. Why should we stay bound by its traditions?”

The one to speak up was, surprisingly enough, not Ende. It was Ney.

“Lady Melle, Allis is the inheritor of the Sovereign’s Core. With that in mind, she is our people’s princess. Even if we’re an offshoot branch in another world now, it would be uncouth of us to neglect our people’s traditions.”

“Hm...”

Melle quietly thought about how rigid Ney’s thinking could be, though she didn’t say that out loud. She did feel responsible for causing a great deal of trouble for her people through her reckless disregard, so she didn’t feel like she had much wiggle room to argue here.

From Melle’s perspective, she was no longer the Sovereign and thus was no longer bound by the customs associated with such a title... But from Ney’s perspective, Melle was still very much the Sovereign she had always looked up to.

“So tell me, how does this Prismatis Rite work?”

“You need to go through some trials set out by the royal family. It’s different each time. In my case, I had to fight against a royal Phrase retainer. I managed to win, of course.”

“Hmph. Don’t act so smug after your shoddy display. I faced you at Lady Melle’s behest, but I didn’t use my full power.”

During Ende’s Prismatis Rite, it was Ney who’d been his foe in order to assess his strength. Whatever they felt about Ende, the Phrase royalty had no choice but to accept the results of the bout.

“Wait, Endymion! Don’t tell me you plan on fighting Kuon! You’re basically Allis’s father, aren’t you? Think of your actions! You wouldn’t beat up a child, would you?”

“W-Well, obviously I wouldn’t do that... Hey, wait a minute. What do you mean basically? I’m her father, aren’t I?!”

“Er, I mean...you will be in the future. She’s not born yet. That’s all I meant. Don’t worry about it,” Melle said, brushing off Ende.

“We’ll determine your trial. Don’t worry, we won’t make it something insurmountable,” Lycee reassured Kuon.

Apparently, it wasn’t something he needed to do immediately, so that was a relief. Still, the whole point was getting proper recognition from Allis’s family. Thus, it didn’t matter what the ordeal was. Kuon had to accept it.

“Very well, then. I’ll undergo this rite. But this doesn’t just concern me, so would you mind if I discussed this with my family first?”

“That’s completely fine. I want to ask Yumina about the etiquette training anyway, so I can explain the situation to her tomorrow.”

“That sounds agreeable,” Kuon replied as he calmly nodded. This would settle the issue of him finding a fiancée, so it was good enough for him. Allis was a safe bet, as the girl was on good terms with Kuon’s sisters and his parents.

Typically, royal marriages were made out of political convenience, but Touya didn’t really believe in that kind of thing, so Kuon couldn’t imagine there being any objections. The only real issue was whether or not Allis would be able to make it in terms of etiquette... She was a stubborn young lady, but she had the guts to stick to anything she put her mind to. In simpler terms, she hated losing. Kuon figured that principle could easily apply here and push her past the finish line.

If Allis was resolved to work hard, then Kuon had to give that the respect it deserved. He found himself impressed by her resolve. It was only unconscious for now, but the boy was starting to have positive feelings about getting engaged to her.

◇ ◇ ◇

“...Why are they even talking about stuff like this? I mean, I’m fine with it, but...”

“Then it’s settled. We’ve been briefed on the general conditions, so I see no reason not to accept.”

Kuon had come home and told me this crazy story about getting engaged and having to do some kind of ritual challenge...and I wasn’t about to sit there and pretend like I wasn’t completely baffled.

Then again, I think my own engagement happened at a faster pace than this, right? Maybe this is actually more normal... I can’t tell.

“I see, I see! So it’s a trial to claim Allis as your bride? What an exciting turn!”

Yumina stood nearby; I could see her getting amped up. She was far more excited about this situation than Kuon himself was.

“Are you really okay with this, Kuon? If you’re just kinda going with the flow, you can tell me.”

It happened to me, kid. I kept going with the flow and now I have nine wives. I am pretty happy with them, though...so maybe it’s not actually a cautionary tale.

“I appreciate your concern, but I’ve given this a lot of consideration. If anything, I just wanted to make sure you and mother would accept Allis as a potential future grand duchess.”

“Mm... She’s a little boisterous, but she’s a good girl. I certainly wouldn’t object.”

“I’ve no objections either. I’d be happy for her to be your wife. As far as her being grand duchess, however... Well, I think that’s a concern for the future. If she tries hard, I’d wager she’d be able to play the part well.”

Yumina and I were of one mind. The only minor concern was that she didn’t have much in the way of trained etiquette, but that was something that could be worked on over time. Allis was honest to a fault. She didn’t have much political decorum to her, but she’d be able to get better... Probably...

“There’s no risk involved in this Prismatis Rite, is there?”

“I heard the ordeal is different every time, so I have no frame of reference. I’m told there’s no risk of death, however.”

Hey, hey. Being pushed to the brink of death would still be too much! I can’t be blamed for being apprehensive about all this. If Kuon ends up getting beaten within an inch of his life, I’m pretty sure Yumina will just kill Ende. Hell, Allis might help.

To be honest, I wouldn’t have minded seeing the two of them beat on Ende a bit, but I didn’t want that to come at the cost of my son’s health. I’d definitely be able to heal Kuon if he got hurt, but I’d prefer him to just not be injured in the first place.

“If I’m honest, I’d prefer my children to...you know...actually be interested in the people they’re getting engaged to.”

“Hm? But I do find Allis interesting.”

“R-Right...”

My son tilted his head slightly. It was then that I realized he had no idea what I was talking about. I got the feeling that his interest in Allis wasn’t quite what I was referring to.

Kuon went to bed early that night, leaving me alone with Yumina. I was still thrown for a loop by the whole thing.

“Come, now. Don’t you remember when we were engaged? I’m sure you were still a bit confused at first, no? I’m sure your interest in me wasn’t quite where it is now.”

“Well, I was interested in you, but...”

“Kuon cares for Allis, I know that much. Linze showed me something called shojo manga. It’s a form of media from your home nation. I’ve read many a story in its format featuring love that blossoms between childhood friends. Why couldn’t that happen in this case?”

...Yeah, I don’t know if manga Linze picked up on our honeymoon is the best frame of reference here... Media tropes are one thing, but this is real life!

Then again, people in this world didn’t travel much, so there weren’t as many opportunities to meet people far from one’s birthplace. Many people married people they grew up alongside in their villages.

Growing up in a similar environment would often give you similar values, and there wouldn’t be any worry about needing to change for someone who’s always known you. It was basically an easy and safe option. If we applied that to Kuon, then him marrying Allis wouldn’t be much different from many marriages in this world.

The trial wasn’t that unusual either. There were known cases of there being conditions set by fathers if a man wanted the daughter’s hand. Though usually, in cases like that, it was when the man was of a lower social status than the woman. Like a farmer wanting to marry a merchant’s daughter or something.

In this case, Kuon was the one of a higher station... But if I had to guess, Ende had butted in and made up some annoying terms. That moron was so obsessed with fawning over his daughter that he caused trouble for people! He was a real pain in the ass.

I vented some of my frustrations about Ende to Yumina, and she just replied by saying, “Wow... You’re really not self-aware at all, are you?”

I truly wondered what she meant by that.

◇ ◇ ◇

“Both families are present, so we can begin the Prismatis Rite. Are we ready?” Ney spoke solemnly to Kuon, but I still didn’t know what the hell was going on. I felt like I had the right to ask some questions, so I butted in.

“The Prismatis Rite is a kind of Phrase ritual, yeah? So what does Kuon actually need to do? Have you decided yet?”

Ney and the others had called us out to the wilderness in the area that had once been Yulong. We were in the central region where the city of Shenghai had stood before being annihilated by the Phrase railgun attack. People didn’t come by this place anymore. It was a desolate wasteland that only monsters and beasts called home. And since the Yulongese state no longer existed, there were no issues with entering the territory without permission.

Honestly, hanging out here with Ende’s family kind of made it feel like a field trip.

“We Phrase are divided into various types. What you call the Dominant, the Upper, the Intermediate, and the Lesser Constructs. But there’s another type you’re unaware of. Technically speaking, it’s not a type of Phrase, but more akin to a crystal beast. I suppose a close analog to it in this world would be the Gollems.”

...The Gollems? So like, an autonomous creature they can make at will or something? I guess it’s true that Gollems and Phrase alike can be forced into submission by their superiors and also mass-produced to an extent. There are more similarities there than I considered.

“We’ll create some crystal beasts and have you face them in battle, Kuon. Protect Allis from them and prove your strength.”

Upon hearing that, my suspicions were confirmed. When I’d fought the Dominant Constructs in the past, they made it their priority to assess their enemy’s strength. They tended to subscribe to the idea of survival of the fittest. Ney especially believed in a kind of law of the jungle concept, where the strong thrived and the weak barely survived.

I was of the opinion that even weak things could adapt to their circumstances, but the Phrase focused on strength above all else. It was the power to dominate one’s foe and keep them lower than you. Without sufficient power, they couldn’t do as they pleased.

“So you want me to fight these Gollem-like creations of yours?”

“Correct. You can use that weapon of yours. Bring your full strength to bear...and show it to us.” Ney pointed at the sword hanging around Kuon’s waist as she said that. Namely, Silver.

Silver let out a small sigh, or whatever the breathless equivalent of a sigh was, before muttering to Kuon, “Why do we gotta fight for that pipsqueak, kiddo? Can’t we just go get you a better lady? The world’s your oyster... Think about it...”

“Hey! Shut up, you dumb sword! I’ll throw you into the ocean!” Allis barked at the sword. Silver didn’t seem keen on her getting engaged to his master.

“I’ve never fought a crystal beast before, but I’m sure it’ll be no match for me and Silver.”

“Darn tootin’! There’s nobody in the castle who’s a match for me and the kid...! Well, maybe a few in the castle...”

Silver went from confident to spineless in the span of about five seconds.

Off the top of my head, I could think of multiple sword-wielders who could beat Kuon and Silver: Moroha, Yae, Hilde, Yakumo, and Frei.

I was curious about these crystal beasts. Kuon could probably fare just fine with swordplay alone, but he had his mystic eyes as well, so I was sure he’d be okay. If things got too dangerous, though, I planned on butting in.

“Let’s begin, then. Ney, Lycee. Ready?”

“We are, Lady Melle.”

“Always.”

The three of them faced each other in a circle, stretching their arms out wide.

A small piece of pure crystal appeared in the empty space between them, gradually growing in size.

“...It looks a little like rock candy...”

It kind of looked like the process of making konpeito sugar candy that I’d seen on TV once, but it was forming a hell of a lot faster. The round mass fell to a clump on the ground and began growing larger and larger.

Melle and the others walked away. Apparently, their part was done, as the crystal mass continued growing on its own. It just wouldn’t stop expanding in size. It was already bigger than Kuon. Just how much bigger was it planning to get? It began to crack along its surface, gradually taking a more distinct form. It was four-legged, maybe a dog or a cat? Given that it was a crystal beast, that made me wonder if it was going to resemble an animal I knew.

“...Touya. Is that the three-headed one?”

“...It is, yeah.”

Yumina had realized what it was transforming into as well. It was a Cerberus. Or at least, it was kind of like a Cerberus. This one was a bit different. All three of its heads were different. The middle head was a lion’s, while the left and right ones were a Dragon’s and an eagle’s respectively...

“Hm, so that’s the form it’s taken.”

“It looks strong to me.”

“Of course it’s strong. It’s the product of our combined might.”

Melle and the other two Phrase girls nodded proudly. The crystal beast had grown to the size of a juvenile Dragon. It had a large crystalline body that was kind of like a lion’s, but it had a thick tail like a Dragon and bird wings sprouting from its back.

Melle was probably the lion here, while Ney was the Dragon...so that left Lycee as the eagle?

“Kuon’s fighting this, then?”

“Not quite yet. It’s not finished. Right now it has no directive or understanding. It needs to be taught how to fight. You’re up, Endymion.”

“Yep, yep.”

Ney waved over Ende, who stepped forward and held an open hand out toward the crystal beast. A faint light surrounded the two of them, flowing from Ende’s body into the monster’s.

“What are you doing?”

“Teaching it how to fight. I’m showing it how I’d move, how I’d attack, and combat patterns.”

...Uhhh, so what? He’s like...uploading combat data into it or something? You damn bastard, are you seriously trying to break up this engagement before it even happens?

“That should do it,” Ende said as he pulled away his hand. The crystal beast stirred to life, opening up its Dragon mouth to spew flames high into the air.

...Is this really safe?

Despite my unease with the situation, Kuon had already started doing a few stretches.

“...Aren’t you worried at all?”

“Not especially. There’s a lot of us gathered here, so I can’t expect it to be too dangerous,” Kuon replied as he nodded over toward a group of gods who were sitting not too far away. They had a bunch of tables and chairs set up and seemed to be enjoying snacks as they looked on at us. Just when the hell had they gotten here?

Karen, Moroha, Kousuke, Sousuke, Karina, and Suika were all there...treating this like a picnic or a family outing.

“...Well, do your best.”

“Of course. I’ll certainly strive to.”

I gave some words of encouragement, and then Kuon headed off toward the crystal beast. I couldn’t help but be impressed by his courage. Hopefully, it’d carry him through this trial.

With that, our son’s battle began. The battle for his future engagement, that is...

◇ ◇ ◇

Kuon effortlessly drew Silver from his waist. The blade gleamed in the sunlight as it filtered down to the plains. The crystal beast opposite him gleamed even more, however. Every bit of its body caught the light, reflecting it in all directions.

I thought it was a little too bright, honestly. Wouldn’t that give Kuon a disadvantage?

“Now begins the Prismatis Rite. Prove your might, child,” Melle declared, formally announcing the beginning of the trial. The moment she stepped back, the beast lunged forward.

Kuon casually dodged two swipes as they came from the front. The crystal beast kept on swiping, but Kuon was able to duck and weave. He dodged each incoming blow with minimal effort.

I suddenly noticed that one of Kuon’s eyes had turned an orange-gold hue. If I remembered right, that color indicated that he was using his foresight. That mystic eye ability let him glimpse into the future, so he was presumably using it to read his enemy’s movements.

“Won’t he just be able to win by using his eye?”

“No. Just like my own mystic eye, he can’t use it constantly. There’ll be a point where he’ll have to rest it. It varies from person to person, but the stronger the ability the longer the rest required,” Yumina answered, having walked over.

That made sense. Though, back when we’d done the interviews for new members of Brunhild’s knight order, Yumina had used her mystic eye to assess the entrants pretty much all day...so I didn’t know there was any penalty for overuse. Then again, since there was a small break between each interview, Yumina hadn’t been using hers continuously.

Given that the ability allowed him to look into the future, it must’ve been strong. If what Yumina had said was true, it was about to lose all utility...

The crystal beast suddenly stopped dead in its tracks.

Oh yeah, Kuon has a mystic eye ability like that... Yeah, it’s turned yellow-gold now. If I remember right, that ability fixes things in place until he blinks.

The beast stopped only for a few seconds before it began lunging forward at Kuon again. Kuon had apparently not accounted for that, as he backstepped and put some distance between himself and his foe.

Huh? It overcame Kuon’s power? It seems like it kinda worked, but then the crystal beast broke out somehow...

“I think mystic eyes used against enemies in combat are generally less effective due to the stress of the situation. Plus, that thing’s a Phrase, isn’t it? Don’t they have the ability to absorb magic?”

I could see that. This crystal beast didn’t seem to have a Phrase core, but that didn’t mean it couldn’t have similar characteristics to the rest of the species.

If it did, then it wasn’t as powerful as a real Phrase’s ability. That was probably why the mystic eye had managed to stall it for a brief moment instead of being fully nullified.

Kuon had seven mystic eyes. The Mystic Eye of Subordination, which allowed him to tame animals and magical beasts. The Mystic Eye of Immobilization, which allowed him to stop the movement of anything he looked at. The Mystic Eye of Nullification, which allowed him to nullify any magic in his line of sight. The Mystic Eye of Intuition, which allowed him to read a person’s nature. The Mystic Eye of Pressurization, which allowed him to exert gravitational pressure on anything he looks at. The Mystic Eye of Precognition, which allowed him brief glimpses into the future. And finally, there was the Mystic Eye of Hallucination, which allowed him to form illusions.

In this fight, Subordination, Intuition, and Hallucination wouldn’t do much for him. The crystal beast was neither animal nor magical beast, and using his Intuition to gauge its intentions was pointless. Creating illusions wouldn’t do much here either, as it didn’t seem like the enemy was tracking him using its eyes. And given that Immobilization didn’t really work, Pressurization wouldn’t be much use here either.

As I pondered what he could do, a fireball came flying from the Dragon head’s maw. However, the flames evaporated before they reached Kuon. He’d used his Mystic Eye of Nullification, so at least he was getting some utility from that one.

“Oh?”

Kuon had been on the defensive end since the start, but he was finally ready to move. He charged toward the crystal beast from the side, swinging Silver high.

A loud clang reverberated through the area, and it seemed that the crystal beast was unharmed. It was just as physically resistant as any other Phrase, apparently.

“Hah. Your pathetic sword is meaningless in the face of our crystal beast. Give up,” Ende declared as he sneered over at Kuon from across the plain.

“He’s kind of irritating me...”

“Calm down. I’ll tell him off later.”

I tried my best to settle Yumina’s budding frustration.

...Look next to you, idiot. Your daughter’s noticed you being an asshole.

The crystal beast didn’t relent, but Kuon kept on dodging the attacks using his Immobilization and Precognition eyes. I was a little worried about him draining his mana reserves, personally...

I’d noticed that Kuon’s escape attempts were taking longer and longer each time, probably because using his mystic eyes so much was starting to take a toll. The crystal beast wasn’t showing any signs of slowing down, however. It put some distance between itself and Kuon before charging at him like a speeding truck. But for some reason, Kuon didn’t move.

What are you thinking?! Not Immobilization again, surely? You won’t be able to stop it if it’s moving that fast! It’s gonna smash into you!

“[Slip].”

The crystal beast’s front paws suddenly skittered and stumbled. It plummeted at high speed and smashed into the ground, crashing and rolling to the side of Kuon.

That’s my boy. I must’ve taught him well!

“Oh, I see. The beast was taught to fight by Ende, so you used a simple trick he’d fall victim to.”

“What’d you say?! I only gave it combat concepts! It’s not like it fights based on me or anything! Our bodies are way too different! Got that?!” Ende growled at Yumina’s snappy comment. She must’ve still been mad about his earlier smug behavior.

Ende had a point that the crystal beast would obviously fight differently from him...but I had a good feeling he’d have fallen for the ol’ slipperoo just as easily.

“Go Kuooon! You can do iiittt!”

“Gah! It’s not over yet!”

Allis cheered for Kuon to win, each excited word a knife to Ende’s heart.

While the daddy-daughter duo roared on the front lines, their feelings on full display, the three Phrase girls quietly assessed the match from afar.

“Hm... He seems to have a solid grasp on the kind of enemy he’s dealing with. His dodges are all calculated.”

“Yes, he’s analyzed his enemy’s capabilities and isn’t exerting too much energy when avoiding incoming attacks.”

“Of course. In combat, you must always make sure you know what you’re up against. Do something rash when you’re unprepared, and that’s when you get hurt. He’s got the fundamentals down.”

I was pleased to hear their feedback seemed positive. He was having trouble making attacks land, though. If I were up against a Phrase, I’d simply use [Gravity] to make my sword heavier or [Ice Rock] to crush my foe. Kuon only had Null spells at his disposal, though. And he could only cast two, [Slip] and [Paralysis]. He’d demonstrated he could use the former well, but the latter probably wouldn’t have any effect on a crystal creature.

Kuon brought his sword high over his fallen foe. But once again, the blade bounced off, a high-pitched clang ringing out for all to hear. He had yet to do any actual damage. Or so it seemed at first... I narrowed my eyes and noticed a little splinter in the impact zone. He’d chipped it, just a bit. The beast suddenly started to get up, spreading its wings wide and floating off the ground.

“Oho. Now it’s very slightly airborne... Is this to counteract [Slip], perhaps?”

“Yeah. Guess it’s not flying all the way up because that’d be too one-sided.”

Ende’s comment gave me pause. That was strangely sportsmanlike for what seemed to just be a monster made of crystal. Maybe it had gotten a little more from Ende than he’d expected.

But now Kuon couldn’t use one of his mightiest spells...so how would he respond?

◇ ◇ ◇

“Mgh... It’s tougher than I thought.”

Kuon smirked as he backed off from the crystal beast. According to Quun’s findings, Silver was easily as sharp as the phrasium blades their father made, which meant this foe was at least as strong as a magically charged Phrase construct.

“But I got a little bit off, kiddo. Didja do something special?” Silver asked, curious about what had happened.

“I briefly used my Mystic Eye of Pressurization and aimed for that spot. It only did a little damage, but it worked.”

The Pressurization ability, which crushed matter, didn’t really work on the crystal beast. But as a small test, Kuon had focused the power on a specific spot and smacked at it. Then, after a short while of backing off, he looked back at the spot he’d struck. It was still damaged...which meant this enemy didn’t regenerate.

“We’ll just have to keep chipping away at it.”

“You’re the boss!”

Kuon ducked beneath another lunging attack, then struck at the same spot as before.

The spot was on the eagle head’s neck, and it was barely even a scratch. But with the combination of Kuon’s ability and Silver’s strength as a blade, he was able to chip away a little bit more. It wasn’t a very efficient method of fighting, though... If they kept going little by little like this, the fight was likely to last days. Not that Kuon would last that long, of course. His stamina wasn’t infinite.

“Hmm, maybe I should kick it up a notch... It’s a little more tiring, but I should be able to...”

Both of Kuon’s eyes began to glow a reddish gold. While his mother, Yumina, could only manifest the power of her mystic eye in one of her eyes, Kuon had the ability to manifest his powers in both. The seven eyes he wielded could be channeled through either eye. He could use his right eye for Immobilization, while using his left for Pressurization at the same time, for example. Though, he could also use the same ability in both eyes.

Kuon’s Pressurization focused on the spot with twofold focus, and he brought Silver smashing into it. This time the impact knocked a large shard from the crystal beast’s neck. Using both eyes was clearly the right play here.

“Oh?! We might manage this, kiddo!”

“The recoil’s still a problem.”

Kuon blinked hard. His head hurt. Activating two eyes at once put a lot of strain on the boy, and it wasn’t something he’d be able to do repeatedly.

“If only you were a stronger sword, Silver...”

“...You tryin’ to rile me up, kiddo?”

“No, that wasn’t my intention. I just thought that a Gollem blade created by Chrom Ranchesse himself would have more in the way of utility, you know?”

“Krhhh...” Silver growled and began to lightly vibrate in Kuon’s hand.

“Fine, fine, fiiine! I’ll show ya the power ol’ Silver’s got up his sheath! Infinite Silver...first Seal Release!” Silver yelled out, and then he began to glow. His blade was clad in silver-white light, a visible aura of energy emanating from it.

“What is this...?”

“This is just my first trick, kiddo! Take me and smack that thing just like ya did before!”

On Silver’s instruction, Kuon activated Pressurization in both eyes and struck at the crystal beast once more. He aimed for the exact same spot at the base of the eagle head’s neck.

Silver’s blade, still clad in that glow, bit into the side of the crystal beast’s neck...and a sound akin to a rock being crushed rang out as the eagle’s neck was shattered.

Kuon clearly hadn’t seen that coming. It was written on his face. The crystal beast, sensing the new threat, leaped back and put some distance between them.

“How’s that, kiddo?! Like that taste of my true power?!”

“...I’m surprised. What did you do? How did you get that powerful?”

Kuon couldn’t wrap his head around the mysterious power Silver had just demonstrated.

“I don’t know the exact details, but I can amplify the effects of stuff touching me! I didn’t know if it’d work with those eyes of yours, but it seemed to do the trick!”

Kuon blinked in surprise. Did that mean that just wielding Silver amplified any of his magical effects? So with Silver in his hand, the power of his Pressurization eyes had been amplified enough for him to take the beast’s head off.

This was an extraordinarily convenient ability! He could probably instantly heal himself if he tried casting restoration spells with Silver in his hand.

“So you could do this, huh? I’m starting to think better of you.”

“...Wait, doesn’t that mean you thought bad of me before this?!”

“That’s not it. I just never really saw the point in lugging around a talking sword.”

“That’s too honest! At least lie to me!”

Kuon ignored Silver’s plaintive cries and turned to face the crystal beast once more. The earlier attack had left the boy’s foe on guard. It was glaring from afar, taking care not to get too close.

Kuon used his Precognition eye, but the monster remained still. That ability only allowed the boy to glance a second or two into the future, so it was useless if the opponent wasn’t doing anything. It was also too much of a burden on his body to constantly keep it active while waiting for his enemy to fight, so the only way he’d get any use out of it was to wait until his enemy started to fight in earnest again.

He waited and waited...but the crystal beast was waiting too. His translucent foe was completely motionless, like a sculpture made of glass.

How long were they going to keep staring like this? Just as Kuon began to contemplate his next move, the lion head opened its mouth wide. Then, before he even knew what was going on, the young lad was blasted backward.

Kuon’s whole body had been struck by a shockwave that sent him flying. He bounced and rolled along the ground a little, but quickly regained his footing and brandished Silver once more.

“That caught me by surprise... Didn’t have enough time to activate my Nullification.”

“Kinda hard to block what’s invisible, kiddo.”

“Not impossible, but certainly close to...”

Kuon’s Nullification eye canceled out any magic in his line of sight. That wasn’t just limited to things he had to actually see, though. For example, he could cancel out imperceptible spells like [Silence] by simply perceiving that they were there through their effects. The only issue he had against invisible offensive spells like the shockwave was that he could only perceive it was there when it hit him.

“Can’tcha turn it off if you know it’s gonna shoot at you?”

“Only if I know when it’ll shoot at me.”

Kuon was struck by another shockwave and sent flying once more. The lion head had its mouth constantly open, so there was no way of telling when it was going to launch another blast. He had to recognize when his opponent was releasing the magic, then counteract it before it hit him. In this case, he could only recognize it once it was hitting him, so there was nothing he could do.

“We’ve gotta bridge the gap, kiddo.”

“Yeah. The only thing I can think of right now is using Immobilization to hold it in place, then loop around the back.”

Kuon suddenly channeled Immobilization through both eyes, freezing the crystal beast in place. He had only a few seconds to run forward and strafe around to strike his foe. And so, he leaped into action, bringing Silver swinging down mere inches from the enemy’s head... Unfortunately, the mystic eye’s power ran out. His enemy quickly swiveled and launched another shockwave.

Kuon, again, was blasted away by the impact.

“Damn it, kiddo... We almost had it. I shoulda extended myself.”

Silver’s blade could change shape at will. Most of the time it took the form of a shortsword to better pair up with Kuon’s size, but it could also transform into a longsword.

“...I see now. All you have to do is hit it while my mystic eye’s at full power, right?”

“Eh? W-Wait, kiddo. What’re you raising me like that for? Wait, don’t tell me—?!”

Kuon suddenly lobbed Silver in a wide arc as if he were launching a javelin. At the same time, he activated his Immobilization ability and trained it on the crystal beast.

“Hup!”

“You seriously threw meeeeee?!”

Kuon had thrown Silver toward his foe with all his might. And yet, even though Silver sailed through the air like an arrow, the crystal beast still let loose a shockwave from its open mouth. Thus, the silver crown found itself knocked off course. It seemed like even though its movement had been halted by the Immobilization eye, the crystal beast could still generate magic from its open mouth.

Silver had been knocked to the side, but...Kuon was no longer in the beast’s line of sight. Where was he?

“Over here.”

The crystal beast suddenly turned around, responding to the voice. Though Kuon had moved behind it, the beast didn’t seem too bothered. It prepared to launch another shockwave in Kuon’s direction. But before it could, both of Kuon’s eyes suddenly flashed red-gold.

“Now, Silver!”

“I gotcha, kid!”

Kuon called out to Silver, making it come hurtling down from above. The blade smashed into the lion head’s neck. A dull crushing sound rang out and the lion head splintered into pieces just as the eagle one had.

Kuon never needed to throw Silver, since the blade was always able to fly. But he knew that even if he let Silver attack independently, there was a good chance the attack would just be avoided. That was why he let his enemy think Silver was out of the running. The moment Silver was blown away, Kuon had communicated the plan telepathically. The blade had been floating in wait the entire time.

With the lion head dealt with, Silver returned to Kuon’s hand.

“Howzat?! We tricked ya good, you big glass-carved dumbass! Wahoo! Wa ha ha ha ha!”

“Ugh... Shut up,” Kuon sighed and shook his head at Silver’s jubilation.

The crystal beast had only one head remaining: the Dragon’s. It quickly spewed fire from its mouth, but Kuon canceled it out immediately.

“It’s time we ended this.”

“Sounds good, boss!”

Kuon charged toward the crystal beast. His foe spread its wings wide and tried to swipe at him.

Kuon’s left eye suddenly glowed orange-gold. He’d used his Precognition to see what was about to happen, diving beneath the beast’s crystal belly to dodge the incoming attack. His eyes, now focused on his enemy’s underside, both glowed red-gold. Silver, in his right hand, glowed with that silver-white light.

“HYAAAAAAGH!”

Silver yelled out as Kuon thrust him upward, shoving him right into the crystal beast’s proverbial guts. The translucent monster was cleaved nearly in two, its body splintering like cut glass. Its entire body began to crack, then tremble, cascading until it collapsed into broken pieces.

“Woohoo!” Silver cheered as Kuon quietly dusted off his clothing and got up.

“That’s that, I suppose.”

◇ ◇ ◇

“That sure took a while...”

“You did it, Kuon!”

Allis charged in to give Kuon a huge hug, but she was beaten to it by someone who’d charged even faster.

“That’s my Kuon! You were amazing! Simply amazing!”

“Aaagh! D-Duchess Yumina! I should be doing that!”

Yumina had already pulled her scruffy-looking son into a tight embrace.

“I can’t do this when my son grows up, so I get mother’s rights for now,” Yumina said as she nodded triumphantly toward a despondent Allis.

...Could this be the beginning of a rivalry I really don’t want anything to do with? Whose side am I meant to take here?

“I don’t think it was as strong as it could’ve been. Lycee, did you perhaps cut some corners when forming it?”

“...Maybe a little. I didn’t want Allis to be sad, so...”

“You too, Lycee? I might’ve held back a little too...”

“Lady Melle... Doesn’t this fly in the face of the rite...?”

“Well, if the fusion left it shoddier than expected all-around...doesn’t that mean you cut some corners as well, Ney?”

“Ugh...”

The three mothers quietly talked among themselves. Apparently, their soft spot for their daughter’s happiness had won out.

“Grrrgh! Then it wasn’t done right, was it?! Was it?! The rite is invalidated! We’ll call the whole thing off, I say!”

“...Dad? Kuon only had to fight because you said he did... If you keep saying stuff like this, I’ll never talk to you again...”

“Stuff like what? I never said anything...”

Ende’s eyes glazed over in misery as he gave in to his daughter’s threat. I was used to this kind of exchange between them at this point. Why did he even bother?

In any case, this meant that Allis and Kuon were to be formally engaged.

So she’s gonna marry my son and become grand duchess someday? I have to admit, I have some misgivings about her fit as a royal...but I think as a person, and as my son’s wife, she’s a fine choice.

I had to leave the rest in the hands of Yumina and the others, to pray they’d be able to educate her properly. In the absolute worst-case scenario, we could find an additional wife for Kuon who had a better understanding of court manners, then she could handle that side of things. I didn’t exactly want to make any decisions my son or his fiancée were uncomfortable with, though.

Well, whatever. That kind of worrying was for the far-off future. No point fretting about it so soon. For now, all I needed to do was smile and congratulate the happy couple. It was a new dawn for us all.