Chapter 67
After that small metal sound, there was a loud cheer from the people that gathered.
Just like with Giuseppe, the wind magic user used his magic to amplify Tatsumi’s proposal of marriage all over the chapel.
Therefore, the gathered people could understand what Tatsumi had just said to Calcedonia.
However, the reason why the people cheered was not because of Tatsumi’s wedding proposal to Calcedonia.
The reaction Calcedonia showed to Tatsumi’s proposal was the real reason why the people present in this place started cheering.
“Will you…………………………………right now, right here…marry me!?”
As soon as Tatsumi said those words, the pot containing the Holy Water dropped down from Calcedonia’s hands── No, she threw it away and jumped without hesitation…
Towards Tatsumi’s chest.
And while rubbing her forehead against Tatsumi’s chest, she nodded silently with tears flowing down.
Naturally, it was clear to the gathered people what that silent gesture of Calcedonia’s meant.
The Holy Maiden responded to the proposal from the foreign man.
To that fact, the crowd started cheering loudly without even thinking.
On the chapel’s altar, the two snuggled close to each other while being watched over by the Patriarch of the Savaiv God, the Guardian God of marriage.
Feeling Calcedonia’s feelings calm down, Tatsumi gently pulled back a little from her body.
“I… still haven’t been here for long. That’s why, I don’t know the marriage customs of this place… um, and that is why… I want to do it in the way of my country… Of course, I’ve already got Giuseppe’s approval.”
Giuseppe nodded gently when Calcedonia turned her eyes to him.
To tell the truth, the marriage ceremony in Largofiely was pretty simple.
Earlier, when Tatsumi had talked about wedding ceremonies in Japan, Giuseppe had shown a great interest in it.
Perhaps, Giuseppe had been contemplating on it since that time.
He must have wanted to someday hold a Japanese style wedding ceremony that Tatsumi had talked about. Also, someday he want it to take root in this country as well. Tatsumi could understand that Giuseppe, who unexpectedly liked gaudy things, would think like this.
That’s why he said it would also be good for you guys to do a test case yourselves.
To be honest, Tatsumi also felt that way. However, if Calcedonia was happy so far, then he could somewhat endure those embarrassing thoughts.
When Tatsumi was thinking so, about 2 elderly female priests came up to them.
“As this young man said earlier, from now on we will carry out the marriage ceremony for these two in accordance with the custom of his hometown. Calcedonia is going to marry this young man──Tatsumi. Then, it can be said that it’s also natural to follow the marriage customs of the groom’s family.”
Standing on the altar, Giuseppe explained to the gathered people.
While he was doing so, the still-overcome-with-tears Calcedonia left the chapel together with the female priests.
“From here on, the bride is going to step down for a moment and prepare her outfit. Well, as usual, it takes time for a woman to get ready. I’d appreciate it if everyone can wait patiently. By the way, this is what’s called ‘makeover’ in Tatsumi’s country.”
At Giuseppe’s joking words, laughter rose up from the audience.
Strictly speaking, Calcedonia was not really going through a makeover right now. But, it was pretty close to one; Tatsumi had thought there was no need to go this far into strictly follow Japanese customs.
In the first place, Tatsumi himself was not that familiar with the wedding customs.
He was just a high school student in Japan. Because he didn’t have that many relatives, he hadn’t had that many opportunities to attend weddings.
After waiting for a while.
The entrance of the chapel opened once again and the people who were there suddenly pulled in their breaths.
The young man waiting on the altar was the same; a woman wearing a white wedding dress of an unfamiliar design was standing there.
Her platinum hair was coiffed in a complicated style and was decorated with a lace veil.
The neckline was wide open, emphasizing her ample breasts and revealing a deep cleavage;
The skirt made from abundant drapes and laces fell gently, starting from the slender waist and ended at the feet. In some places, the skirt was inlaid with jewels and corsages that reflected the light from all around the chapel and lit up with glittering magical lights.
Long lace gloves adorned her slender arms up to the elbows. She was holding a bouquet in her hands which was, once again, familiar to Tatsumi but was not found in this country.
The spectators, who were seeing a bride wearing a completely white wedding dress for the first time, were completely speechless at the bride’s beauty.
In this country of Largofiely, there was no wedding dress.
Although they wore a formal dress at the occasion of getting married, there was no custom of preparing a dress specially for a wedding ceremony.
The ceremony was also quite simple; they pledged marriage to God and then the bride and bridegroom put on earrings as a proof of their marriage and it would end with that. If they were engaged, they would exchange earrings with each other and wear it in the opposite ear; thus, the marriage would be regarded as completed.
The ceremony itself was just that, afterwards they would go to a bar or the home of a family member or a friend to have a party. That was the general wedding custom in this country.
However, recently, you can easily have a ceremony in front of God in Japan as well, and there are also cases where lavish reception parties are held afterwards.
The people of this country, who didn’t know about things such as bridal dresses, were unable to take off their eyes from Calcedonia who was clad in a wedding dress.
The person escorting her to the altar was her adoptive brother, Taülorde, dressed in formal clothes. Originally, it should have been Giuseppe’s duty as her adoptive father to escort her to the altar, but this time Giuseppe was conducting the ceremony that’s why this role was handed over to the brother.
With her face covered, the bride walked slowly within the chapel escorted by her brother.
The people let out sighs at the beauty of the bride clad in pure white clothes as she walked past.
Eventually, the bride arrived at the altar where the groom was waiting.
Calcedonia, wrapped up in a wedding dress, was standing in front of him. Tatsumi gazed at her in amazement.
Calcedonia tilted her head at Tatsumi’s lack of words. Noticing that, Tatsumi finally opened his mouth.
“…As I thought, Calsey is beautiful.”
“Huh?”
“Since I first came to this country and met Calsey for the first time, I’ve always been thinking that Calsey is pretty. But… I never thought that Calsey wearing a wedding dress would be this beautiful… And, this beautiful Calsey is my bride… Honestly, I still can’t believe it.”
Because she was directly hit by Tatsumi’s straightforward praise, Calcedonia suddenly blushed bright red.
But she smiled immediately after.
“What are you saying? Ever since I was born… No, even before I was born, haven’t I always belonged to you?”
“Yeah, that’s right. From the beginning, Calsey was my Calsey.”
In the silent chapel, only the two’s conversation resounded.
At this moment, Tatsumi and Calcedonia, both of them, were just thinking about each other and had completely forgotten.
The fact that their conversation right now was being resonated all over the chapel thanks to the wind wizard.
Afterwards, Tatsumi would faint in embarrassment after hearing about this from Verse or Jadokh, but that’s a story for later.
On top of that, the fact that Tatsumi would receive the magical recording as a gift from Giuseppe, who was secretly filming the scene with magic, and then faint once again after watching it, was also a story for later.
On top of that on top of that, minstrels and actors would be passing on today’s scene to the later generation as a musical called “The Wedding;” the current interaction between Tatsumi and Calcedonia would be the most famous scene in “The Wedding” and that it will be handed down to the coming future generations, but this was, again, also a story for later.
The marriage── no, the wedding ceremony went on smoothly.
The lines Giuseppe said, as the executor of the ceremony, were a bit different, but were more or less similar to those of Japanese wedding ceremonies.
Regarding this, it seems like it was meticulously prepared with Eru, as introduced by Tatsumi and Giuseppe, in an advance meeting.
Eru’s knowledge, who had the experience of getting married herself, as well as having been present at her friend’s wedding, could be said to have been the most useful.
And so, at last the wedding ceremony reached its climax.
Speaking of the climax of a Largofiely wedding ceremony, it’s the exchange of earrings as a proof of marriage.
However, this time it was a Japanese style ceremony, that’s why the exchange of earrings was not carried out.
Tatsumi turned towards Calcedonia and pulled out a small box from his pocket.
The box held in his palm was wrapped in a fine, fleece fabric. This was also a familiar thing to Tatsumi who was a Japanese, but the people of Largofiely were seeing this for the first time.
Tatsumi turned to Calcedonia and opened the small box.
“…Is it a…ring?”
As Calcedonia had said, inside the box were two rings of the same design, one small and one big.
“Yeah. In my country, wearing a ring on the ring finger of your left hand is a proof for marriage.”
The two rings were simply made of platinum with no particular decorations.
Unlike engagement rings, wedding rings are not embellished with precious stones, or they often only embed tiny gems in the rings.
There were various opinions on this but it was also said that if gems pop out then it would become a hindrance for the daily chores.
“All right, Calsey, give me your left hand.”
“…… Yes.”
Calcedonia nervously held out her left hand towards Tatsumi. Tatsumi gently held that hand and tenderly slid the small ring onto the slender finger.
Of course, there was no such thing as a wrong size. This group had done diligent research beforehand.
Calcedonia gazed fixedly at the radiance of the platinum ring that shining brightly at the base of her ring finger.
“Now, Calsey, will you… put this ring on my finger?”
“Yes… Of course.”
Calcedonia picked up the bigger ring and slid it onto the ring finger of Tatsumi’s left hand.
The rings on her and Tatsumi’s hands were of the same design. Seeing that, an unfaltering happiness began to bubble up in Calcedonia’s heart.
“Calsey… this means I just placed a curse on you, okay?”
“A… curse?”
“Yes. With this, Calsey cannot escape from the spell that is me. I also don’t intend to let Calsey escape… In other words, I have put a curse on Calsey that cannot be undone for eternity.”
Although, at first Calcedonia’s face stared at him blankly, but after understanding what Tatsumi wanted to say her ruby eyes once again overflew with tears.
Of course, these weren’t tears of sadness.
“…Yes. If it’s such a happy curse…Then I’ll happily get cursed. But…I’m also going to have to place the same curse on my husband, won’t I?”
“Ah, I don’t mind. If it’s Calsey’s curse then I will also happily accept it.”
The both of them moved closer in their embrace… and then, their lips met each other’s.
Giuseppe, who had, until then, been watching the exchange silently, turned towards the audience and made a declaration.
“Now, at this time, I declare these two man and wife! This has also been recognized by Savaiv, and the bond of this couple will not be cut down for eternity! Now, bless the two once again!”
At the same time as the end of Giuseppe’s words, the bells of the Savaiv church resounded a majestic sound.
Also, the people who were present in that place started clapping loudly so as not to lose to the sound of the bells.
And thus.
Tatsumi and Calcedonia became a married couple with the blessings of all these people.
The statue of the Savaiv God watched over the two as they broke their kiss but still stayed in a tight embrace.
The people who participated in this ceremony would later wonder that the statue, that was always expressionless, for some reason looked very gentle on that day.