Chapter 84

(The day of the wedding)

The entire town was quiet. It was the day of the wedding and everyone made sure to keep quiet to not disturb the wedding ceremony that was happening. It wasn't going to be a long ceremony, but there was an unspoken agreement that as soon as Artoria and Shuna left the cathedral, festivities would start almost immediately. Everything was already planned, and visitors would only start arriving around two days later, except for some more special or "VIP" visitors.

/\\//\\//\

"Lady Luminous, please read it properly." Hinata was speaking in a semi-pleading tone.

It had been some time since Artoria left the Lubellious Kingdom, and since then, Luminous had seemingly gone more and more off the deep end. Right now, Luminous, Hinata, and others were on their way to Tempest for a festival in a more traditional form of travel, a carriage. When Hinata showed the invitation she got from Artoria to Luminous, the only words she read were "invitation" and "festival", she refused to read the rest. She was intent on using this moment to try to get closer to Artoria.

'I don't need to read it, Hinata, I already know what it says", Luminous said while moving her head to look away. Hinata didn't want to say it, but she was acting like a child throwing a tantrum. "Besides, why else would she invite me if not to get closer to each other."

"In a way, we will get closer, but in a more diplomatic-"

"Enough said, Hinata, you said it yourself. We'll get closer."

"No, that's not what I meant, I meant that between our nations not personally, just look at the invitation, it clearly says it's a wedding cele-" Hinata tried to force Luminous to read it by shoving it in her face, but Luminous kept looking away at every moment before she was interrupted.

"I don't want to hear it!" Luminous shouted. It was quiet for a moment, but Hinata finally understood something, Luminous was denying reality. She realized that Luminous had long known, but she was holding out hope that it wasn't real.

"You already know what it's actually about don't you, Lady Luminous?" Luminous stayed silent, not answering the question, but her silence spoke volumes.

"We should check their marriage laws so see if we can't do something." Luminous said in a nonchalant manner, but also with a hint of seriousness that showed that she still wasn't giving up.

"Huh?" Hinata was taken aback by Luminous' sudden statement. Though what Luminous said basically confirmed what she was already thinking, it also implied that she wanted to marry Artoria as well. "Lady Luminous, I don't think that is a good idea. You can't just do what you're thinking of at the moment. It's not just about what the law says or whatever is written on a document, it's about emotions." If anyone had heard what they were talking about, it would send shockwaves of rumors not only in their kingdom but across most of the world.

"It doesn't matter, I'll find a way."

"Lady Luminous, please don't do that. Artoria won't care, she's already married. She won't even look at you in that way, she'll only talk to you most likely because you're a demon lord and she'll try to talk in a more diplomatic tone."

"Stop being so negative, Hinata. Like I said, I'll find a way."

Hinata sighed, just letting the issue go. Luminous will need to find out the hard way that the war for the love of her life is already over. "If you say so, Lady Luminous."

The rest of their travel continued with Luminous seemingly lost in her daydreaming.

/\\//\\//\

(Back in town)

Some time had gone by since the wedding ceremony had started and the whole town was still quiet. A large crowd had gathered in front of the cathedral just waiting for the doors to open. They didn't need to wait as in the next few seconds, the door was pushed open to reveal Artoria and Shuna. Artoria, who was carrying Shuna with both arms, looked around. She knew something like this would happen but seeing it with her eyes was a different experience. 

Instantly, the entire crowd cheered so loud that it could be heard across the entire town. Confetti seemed to come out of nowhere, music started playing, and even fireworks were going off.

'Fireworks? At this time? I don't think I planned that and why are they detonating fireworks in the daytime? Where did all this confetti come from? I know it's supposed to be a celebration, but they're wasting no time in getting it started. I wouldn't be surprised of there was a gun salute or something.' Artoria thought to herself as she looked at the massive, cheering crowd. They were so focused, that they didn't notice something was a bit off about Shuna and Artoria. Not that it was a bad change.

Artoria carried Shuna through the crowd and simply smiled while Shuna waved as she hung on to Artoria. The crowd naturally parted as they walked. Their destination? Their house. There was a celebration and it would be better attended if they were in more comfortable clothes and not in a wedding dress or a formal, decorative suit.

Along the way, they met Rimuru. "Congratulations, Artoria and Shuna. This day was kind of expected to arrive, but nonetheless, congrats."

"Thanks, Rimuru."

"So what did you two say to each other?"

Artoria and Shuna looked at each other with a look in their eyes that communicated everything theyneededd to know.

"We're going to keep that to ourselves, Rimuru, but it wasn't anything you would consider 'cheesy'. I didn't say anything like 'I'm head over boots for you' or 'you're the rock in my roll'." Artoria was walking away, but she needed to say something to Rimuru first. "By the way, when is Ramiris coming over?"

Rimuru looked a bit confused. "Ramiris? You mean the demon lord and spirit queen? Why would she come here? Well, she told me she wants to come here, but I refused-"

"You're going to let her come here and stay here, Rimuru. She'll show up on her own soon with Treyni, and you're going to let her in. If she wants to build another labyrinth, you're going to let her."

"Huh? What? Why?"

"Simple. First, there's a lot of money to be made. Second, geopolitics and whatnot. If she builds a new labyrinth here, it'll add another layer of protection from other countries. They'll be much more careful knowing there are two demon lords residing in the same empire and working together. Plus, we get more power in negotiations and diplomacy. We can be peaceful, and while some may say that it's a sign of weakness or whatever, when they remember what kind of power we can unleash, they'll shut their mouths and play on our terms. Anyway, see you." Artoria quickly left for her house while carrying Shuna. She had some things to think about.

/\\//\\//\

So, things during the wedding ceremony took a sudden turn between me and Shuna. To get to the point, we have a soul corridor now and Shuna…evolved. I don't really know what a soul corridor does, but I'm sure it allows us to share not only Skills we have but also certain aspects of ourselves. In our case…my divinity. Yeah, Shuna was the one who benefitted the most from this considering she skipped some evolutions and directly evolved into a Divine Oni. Not sure if works like that, but a win is a win.

If she was already a counter to any magic-based abilities, wizards, witches, sorcerers, etc with that noble phantasm from Medea, then she's a complete nightmare now. Good luck using magic against her, assuming you can even fire off some kind of spell. Looks like I was right about marriage. 

And while I'm happy about all this, it makes a certain plan of mine more… complicated. Since Shuna evolved, she's now more of a spiritual-based life form. This means I need to dive back into books about alchemy and magic a lot more, and also practice a lot more. Because at that stage, it is very difficult, nearly impossible, or literally just impossible to have offspring. But like they say: "Life finds a way". Even if what I'm trying to do is what many would consider being "unnatural", it was always going to be unnatural, I'm simply going to use magic to try and replicate the "natural process". 

Enough about that, there's a massive festival to celebrate, and there are only 2 days left before people from all over the place start arriving. And since it's a celebration, I'm going to introduce some competitions. My first stop will be the shooting range where I'll organize a shooting competition, and then in the coliseum, either before or after all the fighting stuff or maybe as entertainment during an intermission, I'll try to organize some smaller events like barrel racing and mounted shooting. Oh, I forgot we have bulls as well. I might as well have some bull riding. Why? Well, why not? It's the most exciting, scary, dangerous, and adrenaline-fueled eight seconds of your life. And the bulls in this world are a 'bit' more rowdy and stronger. This is going to be so much fun.