The Principle of a Philosopher by Eternal Fool “Asley”

Chapter 473: Ryan In Captivity

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“What… did you just say?” Ryan, perplexed, asked.

“I asked, ‘When is your wedding?'” Blazer responded with utmost seriousness.

This exchange occurred when Ryan, the second-in-command of Team Silver, visited Blazer, the leader, to discuss their future plans.

“W-what do you mean by that…?”

Ryan, never expecting such a statement from Blazer, inquired about its meaning.

“At the recent Team Silver meeting… You left in the middle, didn’t you, Ryan?”

“Hmm? Y-yes, I had to step out to return the Drynium Steel weapons allocated to Team Silver to T’oued… But wait! You don’t mean…!?”

Given Blazer’s implication, Ryan, with his insightful nature, could not help but realize.

“Betty asked, ‘When will Ryan and Reyna be having their wedding?’ And Bruce said, ‘We have plans too, so they ought to decide on a date already.'”

[Wait… wait wait wait. What is Betty and Bruce even talking about…!?]

“And Reid and Mana said, ‘We have funds for the wedding, so it’s a waste not to use them,’ ‘That’s right!’ And Adolf added, ‘We’ve all worked hard to get to this point, so don’t waste it!'”

[Ngh… Reid and Mana! They roped Adolf into this, didn’t they!?]

“Idéa said, ‘The future looks promising,’ and Midors exclaimed, ‘Really?'”

[When did those two become so close!?]

“Itsuki said ‘I’m already negotiating with a kimono shop’ and is currently putting together a plan.”

[THIS is the first thing she does after canceling the outsourcing contract and rejoining Team Silver full-time!?]

“Oh, Haruhana and Natsu said, ‘Leave the dressing to us.'”

[Even those two are pitching in…!!]

“By the way, I concluded with, ‘Understood, I’ll inform Ryan later.'”

“……What.”

“Shall I go over it again from the beginning?”

“No! I understand perfectly! Really, I do, but this is quite a bit too sudden…!”

“Hehehe, remarkable.”

“What?”

Blazer suddenly chuckled, looking at the bottom of the parchment.

“It says here, ‘The Chief is sure to say ‘this is quite a bit too sudden” …Written by Reyna. She must have anticipated your reaction.”

“Wha–!?”

At this point, Blazer sealed the deal with Ryan.

“Lastly, a message from Reyna: ‘Attend to all matters diligently.'”

[“Th-they’ve thought of everything…!?”]

With sweat beading on his face and his head in his hands, Ryan fell silent.

“Nevertheless, we can’t decide the schedule on our own.”

Those words broke Ryan’s silence.

Ryan lifted his head with a sudden realization, his face a picture of relief as he addressed Blazer.

“Indeed, you can’t!”

“Indeed. As some of the potential guests are busy people, I took the liberty of checking things out preemptively.”

“You did… what…?”

“Miss Irene, Sir Gaston, Lady Kaoru, and Lady Jun’ko… They all seem to have exactly one hour free starting at tomorrow noon. While they expressed some reluctance due to the short duration, I believe we can consider this nothing short of miraculous.”

“Wait, isn’t that… just lunch break?”

“Hehehe, remarkable.”

“…Another message from Reyna?”

“No, it’s from everyone.”

“……What is it?”

“‘Accept your fate.'”

Ryan fell silent once more. There was nothing else to be done.

After letting out a deep sigh, he looked up at the ceiling, closing his eyes.

Then, without opening them, he confessed to Blazer.

“I… I suppose I’ve lost…”

“Asley is handling negotiations with the higher-ups. There was no way you were going to avoid this.”

“Well… that IS a significant hurdle, yes.”

“He’s the strongest in the world, after all.”

Blazer chuckled as he spoke to Ryan.

Meeting his gaze once again, Ryan realized something — or perhaps assured of something he had suspected all along.

“The earlier message from everyone… Everyone, as in you as well?”

“Well, that’s what ‘everyone’ would imply, isn’t it?”

“…Yes, you were right. There was no way I was going to avoid this.”

With the entire Team Silver, various representatives of the Nations, and the world’s strongest man gathered on one side, Ryan had nothing more to say.

With resolve, he took a deep breath and bowed to Blazer.

“I appreciate your consideration.”

◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆

On the day of Ryan and Reyna’s wedding, the ceremony took place in the magic classroom.

In the bride’s waiting room, Lina, Mana, Betty, and others surrounded Reyna, who was adorned in a unified white bridal attire that captivated those around her.

“Miss Reyna… You’re so pretty…”

“The culture of T’oued is so lovely!”

Lina and Mana exclaimed in awe as they admired her attire.

Then, Tifa spoke up,

“But wasn’t it mentioned that we’d incorporate the Regalian style as well?”

“That’s for the ring exchange part. It’s not really a thing in T’oued tradition, apparently.”

Betty answered Tifa’s query.

“Lady Kaoru and Lady Jun’ko seemed quite interested, so maybe T’oued will incorporate it into their culture in the future, you know?”

“Huh… If that’s the case, will Regalia adopt some of the T’oued style as well?”

Fuyu asked in response to Irene’s words.

“With increasing diplomatic relations, things are bound to change.”

“By the way, Miss Irene, you’re here surprisingly early…”

With Idéa saying that, Irene started visibly panicking.

“Wh-Well, what’s wrong with that?! I just finished my work a bit early!”

“But we still have a whole hour before the start, you know?”

Natsu’s words stopped Irene in her tracks.

Lylia and Ferris watched in admiration as Haruhana, in charge of makeup, skillfully worked her brush.

“What exquisite technique…”

“This is amazing. Please teach me sometime.”

“Hehehe. All right, it is done.”

Haruhana, finished with Reyna’s makeup, stood up.

Reyna, looking into the mirror, and all the women admiring her bridal visage, all radiated with joy.

“”Wow~~!””

Meanwhile, in the groom’s waiting room, Ryan crouched on the floor, clutching his stomach.

“Ugh… my stomach hurts…”

“Rise, Holy Virgin’s Boundary!”

Bright attempted internal healing magecraft on Ryan, but it brought him no relief.

“No use — this seems to be a pain of the mind.”

Warren remarked, prompting Bruce to agree.

“Man, really? Just go ahead with it — it’ll go away once the wedding is over anyway. No need to be worried over nothing.”

“Right. No problem. It’ll be gone by tomorrow,” Blazer concurred.

“Chief, pull yourself together! Everyone’s coming, you know!”

“Chief… Are you all right?”

Reid slapped Ryan’s back firmly, while Adolf wore a concerned expression.

“By the way, Warren, when will Sir Gaston arrive?”

To Hornel’s inquiry, Warren responded,

“He should be here soon. It’s fortunate that, while we and Sir Gaston must be in T’oued for post-war arrangements, we actually have relatively little work to do.”

“Huh, I see. Well, I guess Beilanea will manage just fine with Sir Dragan and Sir Tangalán running things.”

Midors commented, understanding Warren’s explanation.

“What about Asley?”

Warren chuckled at Barun’s question.

“Hehehe… He’s the priest, and is currently preparing at the venue.”

In the grand hall of the magic classroom, Asley showed signs of nervousness as the wedding approached.

But there was something else on his mind.

Asley glanced to the corner of the hall and whispered softly.

“…Dude, I know you’re here.”

“Oh? And how did you know that, Asley?”

“Well, because you’d probably suddenly appear and say, ‘This is the true ceremony before God~♪’ or something like that.”

“Heh, you really know me well…”

Suddenly appearing from thin air was none other than God.

“Just behave until it’s over, Giorno.”

“The way you say it makes it sound like I wouldn’t behave, my man.”

“Well yeah, because in your case, just standing there is a big problem.”

“What if I blend in as a random guest?”

“This is a wedding — we’re inviting only acquaintances.”

“Well, I’m an acquaintance of yours, right?”

“It’s supposed to be acquaintances of Ryan and Reyna, you know…”

“Well, how do I get in?”

“Use Perfect Invisibility instead of Invisible Illusion. I told you about it already, didn’t I?”

“Oh, right! But it’s going to feel kind of lonely…”

As Giorno pouted and voiced his whims, Asley sent him an exasperated look.

Finally using Perfect Invisibility and disappearing, Giorno spoke up again,

“By the way, Asley?”

“What is it?”

“Can you actually do the priest thing?”

“Sure, I can.”

Surprised by Asley’s unexpected confidence, Giorno uttered, “Oh, really?”

“I’ve read about it in a book, you know.”

And so Giorno’s surprise instantly turned into concern for the result of the wedding.

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