#448 The Saint’s Wedding Ceremony

Platy and I are husband and wife, and it has been a while since we’ve been living together.

We even have a child, Junior, who’s napping on Platy’s nap right now.

However, it’s not as if we have nothing missing in our smooth-sailing life.

Now that we’ve come so far, there are times when we look back and wonder if we should’ve left things the way they have been for so long.

For example, we’re not officially married.

I met Platy by chance when I fished her with my line. Literally.

Maybe you don’t know what I’m talking about, but Platy pushed herself on me to be her husband, and that still holds true to this day.

Since our ‘married’ life happened out of impulse, there are many things we haven’t done.

A wedding is one of them.

If I hadn’t noticed, it might have continued that way.

However, after witnessing Arowana and Puffer’s grand wedding, I began to think we should have one, too.

It’s like, a sense of duty or compulsion of some sort.

Then came these words...

“Shall we have one too? A wedding, I mean.”

“Dear?!” violently reacts Platy.

She stops teasing Queen Puffer for once and turns to look at me.

“Think about it. We never had a proper ceremony, did we? Seeing Arowana’s wedding ceremony made me realize we should do it too.”

Although I’m well aware it’s a tad too late for that.

I thought Platy would get angry and say, “What’s this out of the blue?!” but...

“Deaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaar!!!”

She approaches me rather emotionally.

This startled Junior awake.

“Yes! Yes! Yes, yes, yes! Let’s get married! Right now!”

Junior confusedly looks at his surroundings, unsure of what’s going on.

He was just having his precious afternoon nap! Calm down, Mommy!

“Why not? Sounds good to me,” says Arowana. “Everything you do has always exceeded our imaginations, Lord Saint. I’m sure the wedding will be quite the staggering one should you decide to hold it.”

“Please don’t raise the bar on me like that.”

“It is never too late to do something. If you’re going to have a wedding, we will certainly be there.”

Didn’t you just say you’ll be busy from now on?

By the way, Queen Puffer has left the scene to go pick on Angel.

Hmm...

Well, I had a feeling we had a son late, but not too late.

All right.

Let’s make this wedding the culmination of all the love that Platy and I have cultivated up to this day.

“Yaaaaaaay!”

Platy throws Junior high in the air out of uncontrollable joy.

And then, she catches him!

“Platy, stop!!!”

Junior’s not ready for that!

But anyway, let’s start preparing for the wedding. There’s lots to be done.

The first matter we need to tackle is...

***

“...Veil, I guess.”

Why Veil, you ask?

I suppose you can say I’m also married to her.

This was in the early days of the farm’s development.

When Platy decided to get married to me out of impulse, Veil joined the bandwagon as if she were taking advantage of the situation.

It has been three years since.

I have treated Platy and Veil equally, but maybe it all boils down to my consciousness.

The more Platy spent time with me, the more authentic our ‘marriage’ felt, and now, we even have Junior.

On the other hand, nothing special happened with Veil.

I mean, we have made many memories, and I believe that we’ve formed a bond deep enough to be worth the time we have spent together. However, that bond doesn’t count to say we’re married.

I wonder how Veil sees our relationship?

Since I’m having an official ceremony with Platy, I feel that I shouldn’t proceed with loose ends here and there.

So, I’m going to Veil, who’s completely obsessed with making ramen right now.

“...There’s still a certain bitterness to it,” says Veil after tasting the broth she has been slowly simmering.

As is the pattern lately, she’s inside her little kitchen, busy perfecting her broth.

She wears a black shirt and a hachimaki, and if she folds her harms, she’d look just like those ramen chefs posing for advertisements.

“Maybe more vegetables will milden the taste. And increase Seidour’s extract by 0.2%...”

“...Veil.”

I can’t stand here all day, so I call out to her.

Veil finally notices me and smiles.

“Oh, Master! Did you come to observe me make ramen?”

Nnnope.

Well, you do need to be supervised so you don’t go off in a disastrous direction.

“Look, Master! My original gonkotsu ramen is close to perfection! I’ll have it ready by the time Junior can eat it!

“You want Junior to eat that?!”

But it’s such a toxic food item!

That’s right. Veil loves Junior a lot as if he were her own child.

Sometimes this even puzzles me and Platy, Junior’s biological parents.

I wonder how she sees us as her family?

Of course, in a broader sense, Veil is an important family member.

I don’t want to lose the bond we’ve had just by touching on an ambiguous matter.  

But if we don’t take that risk and move forward, we won’t be able to forge a stronger bond.

I decide to take the plunge.

“Hey, Veil.”

I tell Veil that I’m getting married to Platy.

“Oh, like that thingy you attended underwater recently? Sure, why not?”

“That’s all you’re gonna say?!”

I’m surprised at how easily she accepted it.

Don’t you have any other thoughts, Veil?

“Ah, that time when I said I’m also marrying you? I didn’t really understand the whole marriage thing back then. I was fine as long as I could get your holy sword.”

Wha...

“And then, a lot of things happened since then. Father has been defeated, so I don’t need the holy sword anymore. All I want is to live with you guys and have fun!”

Veil...!

“Master is kind and cooks lots of delicious food, Platy can be a pain sometimes, but there’s never a dull moment with her around. And then, there’s Junior! Junior is adorable! I will protect him forever!”

The word ‘forever’ is not just a metaphor when a dragon says it, I’m afraid...

“I’m having the time of my life here! I’ll keep guarding this place for Master and Junior and everyone else forever!”

“Veil.”

I can’t believe you thought that much of me...

“Veil!!!”

I rush to hug Veil. Platy, too.

“Veil! We’ll always be family! Let’s all live happily together!”

“I’m moved to know how much you thought of us! Mommy is very happy! Keep taking care of our Junior, okay!”

When did Platy get here, anyway?

She joins the jug while Junior’s in one of her arms.

“Oooph! What’s going on?! Why is Master and Platy sandwiching meeee?! I can’t breathe! Uwegh! I feel like my insides are about to burst out any momenttttt!”

Now that our doubts with Veil have been cleared up and our bond remains strong, we can finally get on with the wedding!