Author's note: This story is written for Senyuu's 10th anniversary.
This takes place after volume 2 when Alba defeated the Demon Lord. But please note that there are details from volume 3 and 5 as well.
The illustration was done by a friend of mine. You can see the full version on their Tumblr:
post/627618400729989120/two-years-ago-i-joked-around-with-my-friend-and
Alba is wary.
It has been roughly three days and fourteen hours, yet no trouble has come his way. Knowing himself, he should have at least been ambushed by Ross, eaten something bad, or thrown into jail for crimes he did not commit.
Peace is nice for most people, but Alba is not one of them. This peace is unsettling, like the calm before the storm. Alba processes the possibilities of something bad happening today through elimination:
1. Ross-related sufferings: Out of the question – Ross is journeying with Crea and only drops by once a month for tutoring.
2. Jail-related: Alba is already in jail due to the huge amount of mana in his body posing risk to other mortal beings.
That leaves food poisoning and other common bad luck, which are prone to happen to him on daily basis, yet has not happened for three and a half days.
Those who do not know Alba on a personal level would say he was being paranoid, but if his intuition was that bad he would not have been able to survive the past year of hero work. Alba's prediction is not off the mark, trouble has got a hold of him, just not before his eyes.
Turning back to three days and fourteen hours prior, the King and the Prime minister had a conversation not so much about the well-being of the kingdom as it was about the entertainment of the king: How to promote hero Alba while also promote the King. The Prime Minister suggested a marriage between the royal family and the commendable hero. The King, being himself, had gleefully considered the idea.
"The problem is, your majesty, how can we get the Princess to agree?" asked the Minister.
"I know my daughter has been fancying a man lately. I'm not certain who that might be but it could very well be hero Alba. They are on good terms with one another, they fought together against the Demon Lord, and…um…" The King thought hard for a couple of seconds.
"Well, they are on good terms with one another. I cannot think of anyone else who might have caught her interest."
Somewhere in the castle, Foyfoy sneezed.
Back in the throne hall, the Prime Minister calmly advised his master: "That is quite a leap of logic, your majesty. It would be better to ask the Princess herself, just to be sure."
It was not that the idea had not crossed the King's mind. He had done that, as a matter of fact, when he first heard about Hime's "crush" on some boy. The information was delivered by the Head maid at the price of a ten-percent monthly wage raise, although she refused to reveal the identity of Hime's Man of mystery. Taking the matter into his own hands, he had casually asked his daughter about it over dinner, and at the mention of her love life Hime had accidentally stabbed the tabletop with her folk. The folk had cracked through the plate and planted firmly on the wooden surface. Hime had apologized frantically and excused herself.
Thereafter, the King had discussed with the Queen, but his wife had been too laid back about the whole ordeal, saying "Give her time. She will let us know when she is ready." His last resort had been sending one of his most dedicated (and sturdy) soldiers to ask Hime about it (because although Rudolph had very much seemed to know about it, he also refused to talk). The soldier had returned later from the Princess' chamber with a dislocated jaw, a few bruises, and no new knowledge to share.
Pitiful as the fate of the dinner table and the soldier had been, the King did not think his old body could take the risk of asking his daughter directly who she liked.
"I would rather be wrong and live than be right and die." was his conclusion.
Thus, the royal marriage was put into motion without the knowledge of neither the groom nor the bride.
As the Head maid, Alles is in charge of preparations for royal gatherings and parties, so it raises a few questions as to why she is looking at a worklist of a grandiose celebration without a stated purpose. The scale of the party is large to say the least, probably the flashiest one the castle has ever held since she entered the royal workforce, yet there is no reason for such a celebration. There are so many different kinds of celebration: Birthdays, Coming-of-age, Diplomatic relations, End of the harvest season…and many other events, not telling the servants what party they are working on is unreasonable. Alles passes the to-do list to Teufel for consultation.
"This looks like the preparation for a wedding ceremony." He says after a quick scan. That got Alles, who was lounging idly on the sofa in the servants' common room, to pipe up.
"What? Are you sure?"
Teufel shakes his head, explaining that it is a blind guess, as the preparation list look similar to how the second Demon Lord's wedding was held, with an aisle, ceremony table and everything. Nonetheless, it still piques Alles' interest. If this is an engagement/wedding party hosted by the King himself, it must be for Hime, and if it is for Hime, then the groom has got to be Foyfoy. It is a hypothesis at best, but highly likely true, otherwise the King would not have to hide it. Also, the date is set just after Hime's eighteen birthday – She would be old enough to marry by the kingdom's law.
Alles snatches the list from Teufel's hand and grins, wonders when the King had found out about his daughter's dream man. Whatever and however he knew, she does not care, she runs to Hime's room, all ready to tease the girl about it as if memories of the last punching session she received – the result of her mentioning Foyfoy in front of Hime – has been wiped clean.
After she reached Hime's room and has taken about five punches, Alles finally finds an opening to shove the preparation list into Hime's face and shouts "Look at what your old man's doing!" over Hime's frantic denial of her feelings. Hime takes a step back to get a better look at the papers.
"Party planning and preparations? What does this have to do with me?" Hime looks questioningly back at Alles who is still dizzy from the punches.
"It's a freaking wedding prep list." Alles replied.
"Wedding?" Hime is further perplexed, "Whose wedding?"
"Yours, of course." Alles rolls her eyes. "Who else would your old man hold a wedding for?"
Hime stands there, gaping all the while, not knowing where to begin. So Alles continues. "I'm sure we all know who the groom will be. Your old man isn't as dense as he seems, apparently."
"Just! Wait a minute!" Finally finds her voice again, Hime exclaims. "I have to ask father about this." And takes off with the list. Some minutes later she appears before the throne and questions the King about it.
"Where did you get th-…" The King cuts himself mid-sentence as he remembers the head maid is his daughter's best friend, she could not have got the list from anyone else. He coughs before continuing. "It has come to my attention that you are in a bind regarding your romantic interest. I know it can be difficult at this tender age, because when I was your age and have developed feelings for your mother for some time, your grandmother gave me…encouragements, and permission to pursue the fine lady that your mother was, still is, to this very day. When we married, she wore this elegant dress…"
As the King is starting to get distracted with old memories, Hime thinks of two things: One, disrespect of their children's wishes seems to run in the family because her grandmother married her son off after knowing about his crush – She told Hime herself; Two, does the groom (presumably Foyfoy, from Hime's point of view) even know about this ordeal?
Hime claps her hands together loudly to bring the King's attention back to her and asks about the issue.
At the mention of the groom (presumably Alba, from the King's point of view), the King nods slowly. "The discussion is in progress, but I am certain he will be the happiest man alive to be able to claim you as his rightful bride."
"C-Claim me?!" Hime stuttered, her face heat up at the King's choice of word, and she forgets how to think. That along with the phrases "Happiest man" and "His bride" swirl inside her mind, it takes every bit of self-control for her to walk out of the throne hall without making a scene. The King looks at his daughter's receding back worryingly, he gets off his throne to follow her but a loud crash echoes up from the main hall. The King sighs and sits down again. The repair of the main hall would cost him dearly, he thinks to himself as a series of destructive sounds follows the first one.
"I did not know she likes Hero Alba that much."
Foyfoy is irritated. For some reason, Alles is hovering around his working space with a grin plastered across her face. The King has sent out orders for all the heroes who aided Alba in subduing the Demon Lord to prepare teaching materials for the Hero Academy he is planning to establish. The plan is already underway and work has been piling up for Foyfoy, so much that he has not had dinner with his sister in two weeks straight, so he is in no mood to humor Alles.
"What is it?" Foyfoy snaps his head up from the paperwork to glare at Alles.
"Like I said, I only came over to check on the favored attendant of the Royal family." Alles wiggles her eyebrows. "Seems like he's doing his job earnestly, no wonder he has been earning the favor of the Royal family."
Foyfoy's eye twitch, he has no idea what she is going on about and is about to throw her out when she throws a set of papers on his desk. As soon as he sees that it is a party plan, he pushes it back toward Alles, saying it is not his duty to serve parties anymore as he is no longer a butler, but a soon-to-be educator.
"Of course you won't have any part in serving, but you being some lame teacher isn't the reason." Alles rolls her eyes. "You'll be the main character of the party."
Foyfoy lets the "lame teacher" phrase slide, he is more curious about the last part. "What do you mean by main character?"
It is the question Alles has been waiting for. She drops a few words about the Royal wedding and earns the image of a jaw-dropping Foyfoy, who recovers too quickly for her liking and disproves everything she said. Alles urges him to go ask the King himself, as Hime already has and went on to destroy half the palace in hysteria.
Foyfoy still does not believe Alles, but he agrees to go to the throne hall just to shut her up. He ducks through the construction workers repairing the main hall, it is not "half the palace" like Alles exaggerated, but the damage to the main hall is still impressive. Foyfoy is starting to doubt himself. Alles has a reputation for talking out of her hat, but if Hime really did this, then could Alles have been telling the truth?
Foyfoy enters the throne hall. Minutes later, he exits the place with a happily confused look on his face. The talk with the King has been far from clear, with no mentioning of the groom's name, only that said groom is regarded by the King as "the most reliable, courageous, and brilliant young man" he has ever met, whom his daughter would blush at so much as a mention of the man. Foyfoy then excused himself, thinking he is the complimented man and swears to live up to the King's expectations.
Both Foyfoy and Hime has been carried away. Thus, the Royal marriage is to be proceeded.
"How is the preparations looking?" asks the King, one month after the decision has been made.
The Prime Minister checks his report and gives the King an outline: First, the servants are going to decorate the palace, ballroom, set up an aisle, etc. When that has been halfway done, they will make a guest list, choosing two honored guests as the Best man and Bridesmaid. A week before the wedding they will send out invitations to everyone on the guest list, at the same time accommodating Alba for one week to teach him the basics of royalty manners.
"So far we have been able to cross decorations and guest registry off the list. What's left is to move Hero Alba from the Demon world's custody to our facility." The Minister finishes.
The King nods approvingly, seeming too satisfied with his own arrangements. The Minister put his report back into his case neatly before voicing his question: "Are we still not telling Hero Alba, your majesty?"
"No, we shall not. Hero Alba is such a humble man, he has rejected every single one of my ideas to celebrate his victory: The academy, the chronicle book, the stage play…everything." The King replies. Yet he still goes on and does every one of those without Alba's permission, is what the Minister thinks.
As for Alba, he saw no point in arguing over this matter anymore and has shut off the King's completely to focus on his studying of magic. Which is why the invitation to take a week of his study and enjoy a vacation at the palace seems like bull to Alba. He would have trashed the invitation letter had it not been for the mention of Hime's well-being. The letter described Hime as being "in a state of emotional instability and ceaseless struggling" if Alba does not show his face. Alba does not see the connection between him being there and Hime calming down, but Hime is in some kind of trouble and as her friend, Alba should help anyway. He hopes the visit would be quick because Ross is coming over tomorrow.
He packs enough clothes for a week just to be sure, his studying materials, and some other necessities before Ruki teleports him to the King's castle. The only thing left on Alba's desk in the Demon world's prison cell are two other unopened letters from the Royal family, one addressed to Ruki and one to Ross.
"Hero, I got presents!" Ross beams as he reaches Alba's cell, in his hand a lesson plan that is sure to give Alba hell, and on his face an expression that says he purposefully drafted it to give Alba hell. Not receiving any response, Ross inspects the cell for a second. Much to his displeasure, Alba is nowhere to be found.
Zwei finally catches up to him, heaving for air, she complains: "My hips hurt so badly, dammit! Can you slow down next time?" and murmurs something about the inconsideration of youngsters, careful not to give away her age. But Ross could not care less about any of those, he can borrow some mana and fix her up with his healing magic, but first he wants to know where Alba is.
"Oh, I forgot to tell you, he went to tend to some business at the castle in the human world," Zwei replies, before gesturing to the letters on the desk. "He said to give you those when you get back."
Ross enters the cell, puts his lesson plan down, and opens the fancy envelope with the Royal family's seal and his name on the front. "Don't peak or I won't heal your hips." He said without even glancing at Zwei who is approaching him from behind, she stops in her track and curses under her breath before returning to guarding the cell door.
Ross skims through the first few paragraphs of the letter, which consist only of praises for his heroic deeds over a thousand years ago. Useless as the letter is, Ross continues to read through to find some clues indicating why Alba was summoned to the castle. Finally, he catches an interesting passage.
…The day when we bring together two kindred souls, it would be of the Royal family's greatest honor to hold a splendor marriage with the attendance of the millennial Legendary Hero. However, for someone who is as high-standing as you, we cannot offer you just one mediocre seat in thousands of other seats. We are hoping you can attend the ceremony as the Man of Honor – the Best Man, and accompany our Groom…
By then Ross has understood that he is invited to a wedding of some sort (the rest is just the time and date of the wedding, the clothes they would be sending him, and a few preparations he must make). What he does not understand is why they are asking him to be the Best man. If the wedding was Crea's, then he would not question being chosen as the Best man, as they have been friends since forever. But the Royal family? He is not close-knit with any of them. He is acquainted with Foyfoy, who he heard is working in the castle as a butler, but not so close as to be the guest of honor in the guy's wedding; he also know Rudolf, Alles, Teufel, and Hime, but his level of acquaintance with them is even briefer than with Foyfoy.
Ross decides he needs more clues and opens Ruki's letter. The content is similar, rambling on about how Ruki's appearance would tighten the bond between the Demon and Human world, thus she is invited to be the Bridesmaid – a word which he is sure the kid does not even know the meaning to. When he calls for Ruki, she pouts about how he opened her letter without permission.
"You'd have asked me to read it to you because there are too many complicated words anyway." Ross points out, an excuse which Ruki easily accepts. She then proceeds to fill him in on the King's plan to marry Hime and Foyfoy, how Alles has given herself the authority to announce it to everyone in their circle; the information has not reached him and Crea because they were journeying. It still does not clear things up for Ross. He drops down the chair beside Alba's desk and goes over the facts.
1. Alba is called to the castle.
2. There is a wedding going on. He is invited to be the Best man, Ruki to be the Bridesmaid.
3. The bride is Hime and the groom is Foyfoy (Unverified).
There is something strange in all of this, and if the other two facts have been confirmed, then the oddity lies in the last one – the one he has not seen for himself and is without any solid proof.
Assuming that this is going to be Hime and Foyfoy's wedding, then there are two reasons that would not make Ross the perfect candidate for a Best man: One, he does not know either of them that well; Two, if the King only wants him there for the appeal, then Alba would have been a better option. Despite being the Legendary Hero, Ross is a has-been, from a thousand years ago at that; Meanwhile, Alba has just defeated the Demon Lord and his fame is still fresh. So for someone who enjoys being in the spotlight like the King, the first person that came to mind must be Alba. Besides, Alba hangs out with Hime and Foyfoy way more often than he has, all the more reason for him to be the Best man.
This coupled with the fact that Alba was moved to the castle or some unknown reason, Ross comes up with a theory that could be the missing link in the chain. He scoffs that Alba did not leave his own letter here so Ross can dig further into the matter. A trip to the castle before the Wedding day cannot be helped.
"Ruki, we need to confirm something. Take me to the castle." Ross requests, forgoing healing Zwei's hips.
At the palace, the first thing Alba did upon arriving was asking about Hime's condition, which, to his surprise, was completely normal. Hime came to greet him looking as healthy as she had ever been. Thinking it was another one of the King's antics, Alba immediately turned on his heels, he still had not completed the report on his self-study recently and Ross was coming over the next day to check on him, but the King said he had invited Ross as well so Ross should be on his way there, and it would be better for Alba to remain in the castle than to go back and miss Ross again.
For that reason, Alba is currently sitting on one end of a bench in the Royal garden, and Hime is sitting on the other end. It was weird how the King urged them to go on a walk together, neither of them understands anything, but played along anyway to silence him.
"I'm sorry my dad's causing you trouble again." Hime sighs.
"It's nothing, I know how he gets," Alba reassures her. "I just don't get why he would call me out on you being sick. And you're not, too."
Hime's agreement is on the tip of her tongue when memories of her temperament lately stop her short. How she has been easily flustered over so much as the word "wedding", "wife", and "Foyfoy", that she decided to eat in her room to avoid talking with her parents. Gradually, she started to stay cooped up outside of mealtimes as well to avoid bumping into Foyfoy, because her recent encounter with him was disastrous. He was walking down the hall when their eyes met and he blushed for the first time since her confession, which was months ago already, and she punched him squarely in the face before dashing at max speed to hide her own beet-red face.
Not wanting to go into that story, Hime looks sideways and chuckles nervously: "You know my dad, he thinks the hero can solve everything…"
Alba looks at her quizzically but decides not to pry. Hime then changes the topic about how she is still happy to see Alba. "Everyone has been acting so weird, it's refreshing to have a normal person around to talk to." And they both laugh at that.
Unbeknownst to the two of them, the King is standing on a tower overlooking the garden, nodding approvingly at the sight of two youngsters he plans to have tied the knot.
"I told you they get along well," The King turns to the side where his trusty Prime Minister is standing, seeking agreement. As always, the Minister delivers it.
"I see no man more fitting than Alba to be my daughter's husband." The King strokes his beard. Somewhere in the castle, Foyfoy sneezes yet again.
If Alba said he was having the time of his life at the palace, he would be lying.
Night has come and he has been exhausted. For some reason, the Royal family invited a manners instructor over for Alba, who put him through the grinder with table manners. By the time he barely had the different types of dining knives memorized, the food had gone stone cold and he was the only one left at the dinner table. The maids and butlers, who work under Alles and Teufel, had lived by the two's policy to get off duty early as soon as the King and Queen had finished their dinner, so Alba had to do his own dishes. On the way back to the guest room, Alba was lost in the infinite turns and corners of the palace. When he finally found his room, it had already past midnight.
Yet, Alba is wide awake in his bed. Although he does not want to admit it, he has been so used to living in a prison cell that the palace's luxuries only serve to suffocate him. Being surrounded by stone walls on a daily basis clearly is not as healthy as he thinks it is, his complexion has got pale due to lack of sunlight too. Still, it has been the most secured shelter he has stayed in since started hero work. Back when he was journeying with Ross, they moved to a new location every day and changed inn every night; It was the same when he and Ruki journeyed together after Ross left to seal the first Rchimedes again. Finally, he got a place he could call his own and did not have to move around day in and day out, he has grown attached to the place, so the cozy castle chamber with silk curtain, satin bed, and mini crystal chandelier weirds him out more than anything.
Moreover, that prison cell ensures him the possibility of seeing Ross. Sentimental as it sounds, half of his yearning to meet Ross is instilled fear of the man's irritation. If Alba was lucky, he would get away with only hearing nails scratching the chalkboard as a punishment for missing Ross' lesson.
Although Alba could have ended the memories of their time together on a nice note before sleeping, somehow his train of thoughts always leads him back to absurd moments of Ross' unconventional sense of humor. Still, without Alba realizing, it soothes him enough that he drifts off.
Ross' arrival at the castle earns him a surprised look from the King. Ross wants to check up on Alba first but it would have to wait until he has got a few things straight.
"It is a pleasure, Legendary Hero. Though I did not think you would come so soon." The King welcomes him. What he said to Alba about Ross coming today was a lie – the Best man is to meet with the Groom only one day before the wedding.
Ross eschews the formal greetings and requests a private conversation with the King. The King and the Prime Minister exchange a reluctant look before asking for Ross' reason.
"I'm nervous when there are other people around." Ross deadpans. The King does not buy it one bit, not with the confident look on the man's face. Still, he complies, knowing better than to get on the former hero's bad side. The Prime Minister is dismissed, leaving only the King and Ross in the throne room.
"So, what is it that brought you here?" The King begins.
Ross glares at him, making him jump. "Get off that throne. I don't like looking up to people."
The King again abides by the former hero's wish, not remembering one bit of his majestic royal bloodline pride under the latter's piercing gaze. As soon as the King got within arm's reach, Ross retreats a silver whistle from his pocket and blows it. On cue, Ruki pops out from mid-air through her portal. Perplexed by the third Demon Lord's presence, the King stutters out a few questions, which fall on deaf ears.
"Is the Prime Minister and guards out of sight?" Ross asks in a whisper. To which Ruki replies that her dad has put a silent spell around the throne hall as soon as soon as she enters it, so they would not be overheard no matter what. The King gets another surprise when one more person enters the scene: The Head butler, Teufel Diabolos.
Ruki closes the portal after the man lands on the ground. The King realizes they are plotting something against him, he makes a run for the exits but Ross has got a hold of him. The former hero strikes the King's nerve, stilling him completely, before turning to Teufel.
"Switch our souls."
In the King's body, Ross left the throne hall for a few hours to gather information. After a talk with the Prime Minister, whom is now kept busy by one of the economic tasks the King never bothers to get done, he goes back to the throne hall to take his body back. Teufel is still keeping the King's soul unconscious inside Ross' body, and Ruki is entertaining him with her new discovery of extendable shirt, which to him sounds awfully like his has-yet-to-be-patented invention.
"I was right." Ross says upon entering the throne hall. He returns with the knowledge that Alba is indeed the groom in the King's plan, and what Alles has been proclaiming is all misconception. With that confirmed, he made a detour to the King's chamber, took a map of the castle, and marked the guest room in where Alba was said to be staying.
Teufel wipes the most recent part of the King's memories from his soul before switching the two of them back. Once the work is finished, he received two chiropractic treatment vouchers that can be in the Demon world from Ross, afforded with the second Rchimedes's wealth.
That night, when Alba is in his room revising the study materials he brought with him, a sharp rap on the door breaks his focus. Before he even lay his hand on the door handle, it swings open and slams into his face.
"Staying in a strange place and you didn't even lock the door. This is why I keep catching you off guard when we spar." Ross announces as he walks into the room, looking behind the door to see Alba rubbing his pained nose from the collision. "Hey there, Hero."
"Ross!" Alba exclaims, forgetting his stinging nose in an instant. "You're here!"
Ross raises an eyebrow, wondering why Alba is rather happy as if expecting him. He figures the king must have lied to the boy about Ross coming today to prevent Alba from leaving.
"No time to chat. Turn around." Ross orders. Although confused, Alba still does as he was told. He feels Ross hitting the back of his neck before losing consciousness.
Ross takes out a sackcloth bag, cut out three holes so Alba can breathe, before draping it over his head and pull it all the way down his ankles, tying a rope around them to keep the bag in place. He throws a bagged Alba over his shoulder and climbs out the window using a rope. Ruki is waiting to teleport them at the nearby forest.
It would have been more convenient for Ruki to be here but the Prime Minister had caught on to their little plan of busting Alba out and alert the guards. Which is why Ruki had to go on ahead and stay far from the castle.
Ross wanted to deal with this civilly at first, but Teufel took off to the Demon world right after he had received the coupons, Alles got off duty early, and Hime did not open her door no matter how long he knocked (Ross does not know that she had installed soundproof walls and door to ignore Alles). So no one he knows with an authority in the castle is there to retrieve the arrest warrant.
Knocking out a few guards on the way to Alba's room was not a challenge for the ex-hero, but now he is carrying dead weight on him, he cannot deal with too many of them at once. Ross visualizes the twists and turns of the castle using his memory of the map and considers the safest route.
Ross has fixed a route in his head and was following it when he runs into an invisible wall. The impact made him drop Alba on the ground and he reminds himself to check the boy for injuries later. Ross rubs his forehead and inspects the transparent obstacle: A magic-induced wall. Ross' brows furrow, aside from Teufel and Rudolf he is not aware of any other member of the castle who can use magic. He senses someone approaching from behind and immediately picks Alba up.
"Well well well, if it isn't the Legendary Hero." The Prime Minister speaks up, and at that moment Ross recognizes him. Maine Funf – One of the demons he had come across when taking down the first Rchimedes. He must have been the one who set up the wall.
Ross does not stay to validate his conclusion and flees in a different direction. Although this kingdom's monarch is a joke, he has to admit their knights are well-trained, if their synchronization is anything to go by. Not long into the chase, the guards have already formed a pincer formation on Ross. With the guards on his tail as well as to his front, Ross is forced to change course constantly. The map inside his head is getting more and more disorganized with each unplanned turn when finally, he runs into a dead end. Ross grits his teeth, he should have borrowed the mana maker from the second Demon Lord. Before he could curse his own insufficiency any further, someone calls him from an upstairs window.
The guards reach the turn thinking they have had Ross cornered, but there is no one there. Their commander looks around and orders them to spread out to different directions, having yet to realize that above them, Ross is being pulled up by a rope. He climbs into the window as quietly as he can, which is made possible only because the guards are fussing over losing his track. He puts Alba on the floor, annoyed at his numbing shoulder and arm.
"Thanks, Rudolf." He says when he finally catches his breath, the old soldier waves him off. "How did you find us?"
"I sensed Ruki's loli aura around here somewhere and felt that she is troubled, so I kept an eye out for anything abnormal." Rudolf replies. At Rudolf's lolicon pride, Ross almost wants to take back his thank, but decides to settle for just a belittling look out of courtesy. The old soldier is unfazed either way.
"Explanation can wait. I'll get you and Alba through the back door."
Alba cracks his eyes open, slowly taking in his surroundings. "W…Where am-"
"Leott village. Demon world." A voice answers from next to Alba. He goes into defense stance before realizing it was Ross'. The latter is lying leisurely on the grass of what seems to be a meadow. Ross pats the patch of grass next to him, inviting Alba to lie down, an offer that Alba readily accepts. After his survival instinct detected no threat, the dizziness of sitting up too fast has got to him.
"What are we doing here?" Alba asks after having gathered his bearings.
"This place has a good view of the night sky, the air is nice, too. Because the climate here is stable, it feels like spring and autumn all year round." Ross explains, gazing up the starry sky. "It was one of my favorite places back when I journeyed by myself. Thought I'd show you."
Alba shifts his gaze from Ross to the sky, and his breath caught in his throat. The milky way spreading across the vast navy background is nothing short of nature's most magnificent kind of magic, one that he cannot simply learn from books. After a few minutes of losing himself in the stars' beauty, more questions come to his mind.
"You didn't bring me here out of nowhere just to show me this, did you?" Alba asks, implying Ross' borderline kidnapping attempt.
"Yeah, I didn't. I brought you here because you were dumb enough to get yourself into an arranged marriage without even knowing it." Ross chides, then turns his head sideways to see a perplexed Alba, clearly not knowing what he was talking about.
Ross then reveals the King's plan to marry his daughter to Alba. Needless to say, Alba is dismayed. By the end of the story, Alba is fuming at the irresponsible ruler. He sits up, swears never to affiliate himself with the King again. Ross gives him an amused look, he knows Alba too well to believe that claim. If the castle was in trouble the boy would just forget about this whole ordeal and rush in to save them. The proof is, Alba is already asking whether Hime and Foyfoy are okay when it is his wanted order as the runaway groom he should be worrying about.
"They'll be fine, Ruki should have explained everything to them by now. The wedding would be canceled anyway." By anyway, Ross means when he was in the King's body, he did a heavy workout routine definitely not meant for someone who sits around all day. Taking the King's age into consideration, when tomorrow comes his body would ache all over, so much that he could not even manage to move a limb for days.
Alba is horrified at that information, the King is wrong for doing what he did but he did not deserve such a torturous experience. Ross does not falter and reassures him: "It's okay. I left a letter blaming it on your mana affecting his body."
"How is that okay?!" Alba cries.
"Because if I did all the work and you didn't get hurt at all I'd lose sleep over it." Ross says exasperatedly as if it is the most natural thing in the world.
"I was hurt! You already hit me behind the head!"
"That doesn't count. We do it all the time."
Ross' logic never fails to ruffle Alba's feathers. Going with the procedure of their past banters, Ross expects the latter to ditch the tsukkomis and start throwing tantrum right about…
"Maybe I should have agreed to marry into the Royal family."
…now.
Ross chuckles at his own accurate prediction. It is just like that time when he made fun of Alba's habit of sleeping with a stuffed toy; Back when Alba was still tiny and only went up to his shoulders. The small boy had stomped out of their inn in a fit, only to cry for Ross when he got lost in the middle of an open field. Fond memories.
He is brought out of thoughts when Alba waves a hand in front of his face. It seems Ross' sudden silence worries him so much that the tantrum subsided. Ross catches Alba's waving hand, commenting on how annoying it is.
"Maybe I did make a wrong move. You could've been the Crown Prince, and I would've got fame and riches through your diplomatic connections." Ross teases, pulling Alba back down on the grass with him. "But now that I went and rescued you, we lost that chance. I'm gonna be stuck with you forever."
Ross lets out an exaggerated sigh, but his voice does not carry any regret.
As the cool breeze brush past them, bringing with it the earthy smell of leaves, grass, and wildflowers, Alba's mind drifts. Although he will never admit it aloud, he does not mind being stuck together with Ross for life.