Ch.334The World’s NPCs in Uproar (9)

“Ma-Marriage?!! You’re saying Ragni and Jack are getting married?!!”

“Quiet. We may be outside the defensive magic, but we’re still in front of enemy lines.”

The Chancellor dismissed Rey’s scream-like voice and continued to push the cup and knife toward Ragni, urging her on. Ragni received the knife with trembling hands. Hmm, ah! Is she perhaps afraid of putting a knife to her own body?

“Ugh!! A-Are you stupid?! There’s no way I’d be afraid of something like that!!”

“Stupid? And ‘something like that’…”

“This can’t be happening!! Ragni’s getting married first!! I was Jack’s first!!!”

“Can none of you speak without shouting? I said be quiet.”

“Kugh…!!”

“Heeeng!!!”

This time, both Ragni and Rey shut their mouths after a single warning. But Rey, when you talk like that, it really sounds… something. And Chancellor, are you still in a bad mood? Honestly, even if we’re in front of enemy lines, the inside of this barrier is completely invisible, and I can’t sense anything at all.

I don’t think the Chancellor would teleport us to some idiotic place where enemies could find us, and even if she did, Gor is by our side. Her detection ability is top-tier in this world. It’s at least on par with my previous veteran ranger’s detection skills, so there’s no way we’d notice something approaching later than the enemy would. As I was shrugging my shoulders at that thought…

-Tap!

“Huh? Ira?”

I tilt my head in confusion at my little sister who suddenly tapped my waist with her palm. Why are you doing that all of a sudden?

“How about big brother does it?”

“Eh, me?”

“Eek?! I-Ira!!”

“So I said be qui… No, never mind. Do as you please.”

To inflict a wound on my woman with my own hands. Isn’t this quite a difficult task? But somehow, after hearing Ira’s words, Ragni’s face turned not just red but sun-red, and I realized this must mean something, so I approached her and snatched the knife… Oh, trying to avoid it?

“Yoink.”

“Ah?!”

I snatched the knife!

Hmm. But what’s the meaning of this? I didn’t expect her to activate her [Heaven-Blessed Talent] to mimic my movements just to avoid having the knife taken. Since she’s this desperate, it makes me want to do it even more.

“W-Wait a minute, Jack! This is a real marriage ceremony! You…!!”

“Marriage is good. I wasn’t planning to let you go even if you cried and begged. It might be simple and a bit awkward to do it on the battlefield, but since it’s a traditional ceremony passed down through the imperial royal family, I think it’s good to do it when we can. Of course, I want to have a proper wedding later. Let’s just consider this an engagement, okay?”

“Gulp! Y-Yeah, engagement…!!”

“Ragni’s getting married before me…!! Ah, I want to wear a dress too!!”

“Yes, yes. I understand, so calm down.”

After somehow calming Rey, who was showing behavior close to a meltdown, I stand in front of Ragni.

Her attire is clearly that of an adventurer who’s been traveling and wandering around. The short skirt and tight red garter outfit beautifully highlight Ragni’s voluptuous and attractive figure, but anyone can see this isn’t wedding attire. Seeing her in a white wedding dress is definitely one of the sights I want to see. After briefly conveying that intention, I take Ragni’s hand…

“…You’re not sick, are you? Your hand is so hot.”

“I-Idiot…”

Now with her voice trailing off, Ragni bows her head and tells me to hurry since it doesn’t hurt, so I pierce her skin much more lightly than when I stabbed my own wrist earlier. This time, blood flows out just enough to start filling the cup the Chancellor is holding. During this, I heard the Chancellor grumbling, “These young ones are truly in heat,” but I casually ignore it. You don’t know, do you? When these girls are really in heat at night, it’s crazy. I’m literally dying, physically, from the waist down.

After the cup is filled with equal amounts of blood, the Chancellor finishes healing Ragni and lightly taps the cup with her staff, changing the blood’s color from dark red to clear like water. Oh, what’s this? It really looks like magic.

“Assistant, hold it in your mouth. The method is…”

“Ah, I know. But, with Ira here…”

“Show me! Show me!!”

“As you can see. Go ahead and do it.”

Does Ira know this method? She seems to understand the situation even better than I do, clapping her hands and urging Ragni on. Ragni looks at Ira somewhat resentfully before taking the blood… no, the liquid that has been transformed by magic to look like flowing water, into her mouth. And then.

-Smoothly.

Her slender left arm comes around my back, and her right hand grabs my chin. Uh, wait a minute?

-Grip!

Ragni strongly pulls my face, which was trying to slip away! No matter how I look at it, this is a kiss, right?! Damn, wait, I didn’t know about this!! Even if it’s the woman I love, kissing in front of Ira is…!!

-Chu.

But my intentions don’t matter. I’m the one who made her do this in the first place, and Ragni can’t express any complaints since she’s holding the liquid in her mouth. Eventually, she begins to transfer the liquid she was holding into my mouth, while also drinking some herself. Ah, I see. So we share it like this? There’s a kind of… vanilla? scent.

-Gulp.

“…I really didn’t know it would be like this.”

“…I thought you knew what you were doing.”

“I’m so jealous…”

I didn’t understand why Ragni kept blushing and making a fuss, but to think we’d end up sharing a kiss like this in front of Ira. My face is getting hot too…!!

As I’m rubbing my face as if I can’t stand it.

-Tug, tug.

“Uh, yes?”

“Big brother, me next! Me!”

“…What?”

“Eh, what about me?!”

Ira pulls my sleeve several times to lower my arm, lightly snatches the knife, and before Rey can move, she cuts her own wrist much more lightly. Uh, huh?

“That’s right. As expected, my disciple is much better than these fools.”

And as Ira raises her arm to let the blood flow, the Chancellor catches Ira’s blood in the cup just like before and taps it with her staff. W-Wait a minute. What…!! No?! Don’t tell me!!

“Now, it’s your turn.”

“N-No!! Wait a minute!! With Ira!! Me?!!”

Wait a moment!! I object!! Ira and I are blood siblings?!! The previous incident was an accident, but this isn’t!! This can’t happen! I’d rather leave Ira back at the Helgot estate…!!!

“…I could do it instead. If I do it, Ira becomes my sister, not yours. Then she would become the Second Imperial Princess… no, since I’m not recognized as a princess, she would be the Second Royal Princess. As you can see, this ceremony is a contract through magic. It actually carries some degree of binding force. If that’s okay with you, I’ll do it.”

“No! Let’s just not do it…!!”

“…Big brother, my arm hurts?”

“Urgh?!!”

“Tsk. What are you doing? Rather, showing such concern makes us uncomfortable. It’s just sharing blood in the mouth. Think of it as mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”

Ira shows her bleeding arm and looks up with teary eyes. And the Chancellor looks at me like trash as I step back nervously, concerned about Ira, as if saying, ‘You don’t actually have those kinds of feelings for your real sister, do you?’ God, please!!

“Big brother said he wouldn’t leave me behind anymore…”

“Kuk!!”

As Ira starts to tear up for real, as if I’m trying to leave her behind again, I grit my teeth and snatch the cup from the Chancellor, holding the liquid in my mouth.

Earlier it smelled like vanilla, but for some reason, this time it has a sweet strawberry scent!!

After lifting Ira into my arms, I push her toward the Chancellor, telling her to stop the bleeding first, and she smirks before immediately healing Ira’s arm. Damn, both Ira’s first kiss and second kiss are with me. No! Neither of them counts!! Ira! This is just resuscitation!!

I close my eyes tightly and slowly move my lips toward Ira’s. I’m so nervous I might swallow all the liquid in my mouth, but if I just close my eyes and transfer it just once!! Just once and it’s over!!!

-Chu!

“!!!”

Before I could move to press my lips against hers, Ira grabbed my face with her small hands and pressed her lips against mine first. Just like Ragni did. As if she had the blood-made liquid in her mouth, she slightly opened her lips, and I opened mine in response, desperately trying to transfer the liquid, but Ira pushed it back into my mouth as if she felt some resistance. Aaaah!! Ira! It might be difficult, but you have to take it!! If you don’t drink it quickly, your brother will die!! Socially die!!!

For a while, Ira kept pushing the liquid back into my mouth as if she couldn’t accept it, but my lung capacity was overwhelmingly stronger than her small one, and finally, after we both held half of it, I immediately separated my lips, drank the liquid, and urged Gor to give me a handkerchief. Quickly! Quickly!! Wipe Ira’s lips first!!!

“Mmm!! No! I won’t wipe it!!”

“Ah, okay.”

But as soon as Gor reached out, Ira shook her head like she was throwing a tantrum, avoided the handkerchief completely, pulled at my clothes asking to be put down, and then covered her lips with her hands as if to protect them before running to hide behind the Chancellor. No, seriously, don’t look at me like that. Chancellor, there’s nothing like that between Ira and me, so please, don’t look at me like that!! Stop looking at me like I’m a bug!!!

“Then I’ll go next…”

“No, I’ll go first!”

After the ceremony between me and Ira ended, the two who insisted on going first were mediated by the Chancellor. Gor is a golem, Rey is human. With the Chancellor’s one question about whether blood actually comes out of a golem, Gor had no choice but to step back. Rey’s blood was mixed first… why does it smell like peppermint?

No, it felt more like mint chocolate than peppermint. Anyway, after sharing the liquid with a kiss that had that scent, finally Gor’s… slime liquid went in.

Uh, hey. Why is the color changing? It was transparent until now, but it’s gray? Like mercury? Is it really okay to drink this? It looks like it might prevent a corpse from decaying.

“Hmm. The combination is correct, but I’m not sure if it will be alright. I never thought I’d see the day when I’d experiment with the imperial wedding magic ceremony on a golem.”

“Sigh.”

“…Even if you dislike it, you must do it. I cannot let only Master and Miss Ira go.”

It’s not that I dislike it, it just looks like I might die from drinking it. But I can’t say that. Gor’s behavior, dropping her eyebrows as if feeling inferior for not being human, was enough to make me resolve myself.

Ah, damn it, a man only dies once, not twice. I’m already half socially dead anyway. Dying the other half just confirms my death!

I hold the liquid in my mouth and immediately kiss Gor… This tastes like cider? Seven stars?!

After finishing the kiss that tasted like popping carbonation, I finally recovered and looked at the Chancellor, asking if the magic ceremony was over now, and she looked at Ira who was hiding behind her. Ah, right.

“Disciple. Now it’s your turn to do it to me.”

“Eh? To you, Master?”

Unlike when she did it with me, Ira looks shocked as if the sky had fallen, and she alternates between looking at the cup and me, unable to pick it up right away.

Actually, it turned out like this. This is based on Ragni and follows the imperial polygamy mode, but from a family perspective, when I got connected with that middle-aged grandmother, well, it’s a bit awkward, right? So, I asked what about taking the position of Ira’s mother, you know? Is that unpleasant?

“…Master.”

“Hmm.”

“Can I do it with Big Sister Ragni instead! Big Sister doesn’t have a mother either!”

Ira, that’s a wide-area parental insult!!!