In conclusion, it was real.
I really couldn’t believe it…
I mean, come on, an uncle and a gyaru? Normally, you’d think it was a joke, right?
However, upon closer inspection, it seemed that that ‘normal’ was only for me.
The reason is that this world has magic.
Magic—the strength of magic power and its circulation significantly influences the maintenance of youth. Just like how the over seventy-year-old Grandma Seralinde appears to be in her twenties, or how my mother, who is over forty, looks like she’s in her mid-twenties.
Those with high magic power can age without their bodies deteriorating along with it.
And this fact is common knowledge in this world, affecting perceptions of love and marriage.
First, there’s the trend of late marriages.
People with high magic power tend to take their time to marry if they don’t have a specific partner. They remain laid-back even in their thirties and forties, which means that biases like ‘it’s natural to be married by a certain age’ are almost nonexistent here.
Then, there’s the prevalence of age-gap marriages.
The fact that people with high magic power age slowly means that those with little magic power—while tending to have longer lifespans than on Earth—will age normally. This has led to the common sentiment of wanting to marry before one’s appearance starts to age or believing that ‘eventually, appearance will catch up due to the magic power gap’.
By the way, Lila-san is seventeen, and Berde-san is forty.
So Lila-san is younger than me… Now that I think about it, I never really paid attention to everyone’s ages…
However, Lila-san has very little magic power, while Berde-san has a fair amount. Berde-san’s relatively decent appearance is attributed to his late mastery of magic and simply because he has always had a mature look.
As a result, everyone accepted the marriage of the two, who had an age gap akin to that of a parent and child, without question. While Karen was surprised, she didn’t think it was a joke.
The two of them laughed and forgave my rudeness.
「Even though I’m young now, I’ll be turning into an aunt more and more as time goes on. But thinking about getting closer to you, Uncle, isn’t bad at all—it’s actually exciting!」
「I’ll start aging too when Lila-san catches up to me. By then, there’ll surely be some promising young adventurers around.」
Seeing them laugh together, I felt ashamed of my narrow perspective. In my world, there were also couples with significant age differences, but there must have been biases surrounding that too.
But—
「Sui, Karen-chan, you two will definitely live much longer than us. With your incredible magic power, you might even live twice as long as others and probably still look young by then… Even when we become frail old men and women, we’ll still count on you.」
Hearing such words made me envision a distant future, tightening my chest a little.
So, we will eventually become the ones to see everyone off.
Just like how Ji Liz and the others will one day bid us farewell.
※※※
Anyway.
The celebration for Schnei-san and Tomoe-san turned into a joint celebration for Berde-san and Lila-san as well.
Unlike the dramatic proposal earlier, Lila-san looked happy while Berde-san seemed a bit bashful.
What was amusing was that, after being completely drunk until that moment, Lila-san returned to her sober self the moment her marriage was confirmed and switched to non-alcoholic drinks. Perhaps she felt she didn’t need alcohol to think about her future.
「Hehe. Chocola-chan, will you celebrate with me?」
「Bark!」
Well, her playful demeanor didn’t change much.
She happily crouched down and smiled at Chocola.
To my surprise, Chocola gently leaned his head against Lila-san.
「Eh, can I pet you…?」
「Kuuh.」
「Thank you! You’re so kind!!」
As if to say it was a special celebration, Chocola snorted as Lila-san gently pet his cheek. She was allowed only a few seconds before pulling back, but she still happily waved and said, ‘Thank you!’
「Alright, in return, I’ll let Sui and Karen pet me!」
「I won’t pet you.」
「Hmm, that’s fine.」
「What?!」
Lila-san stubbornly offered her head like a headbutt, but Karen pushed her away without hesitation. Berde-san watched with a gentle smile on his face as Lila-san pouted.
In that moment, Berde-san’s eyes met mine, and he began to speak quietly.
「It’s been about ten years since I settled in Sidera… almost fifteen now. The reason I put down roots here is that it was the most dangerous place I could find.」
「Is it because of the ‘Void Forest’?」
「Yeah. You might not fully grasp it now, but this is one of the most dangerous areas in the kingdom, if not the entire continent, the front line for adventurers.」
He tilted his wooden mug, grinning knowingly.
「I wanted to get stronger. The next time I met that person, I wanted to be strong enough to be proud of myself. To do that, I wandered around and figured the best way to hone my skills was to head to the front lines, so I ended up in Sidera. After that, it was a blur. I nearly died multiple times, but I pushed through, crawled, and stood up again… Before I knew it, I was leading an investigation team, and I had important people in my life.」
He then gazed off into the distance.
「I never thought I’d settle down. I’ve known Lila-san since she was this small. At first, I saw her like a daughter or little sister, but starting last year, she began approaching me directly. Her wish to marry young made me consider it too.」
And then—
「That’s when you arrived, Sui. You, the son of that person, came to the ‘Void Forest’… to Sidera. And you decided to live here. So, I thought, maybe I should bury my bones here too. I felt it was my destiny.」
Indirectly, my existence seemed to have changed Berde-san and the others.
「So, what should I call you when we get married? ‘Husband’? ‘You’? ‘My dear husband’? What do you think, Karen-cha?」
「Hmm… I can’t choose. Maybe you could use them interchangeably depending on the day?」
「Whoah! Are you genius or what?」
As Lila-san playfully bantered with Karen, who responded surprisingly seriously, Berde-san couldn’t help but smile. Then, he muttered softly,
「Hey, I wonder if I’ve become someone I can be proud of in front of that person…」
It might have been a monologue, perhaps a nostalgic thought that slipped out after too much drink.
Still, I turned slightly away, swallowed some juice, and said,
「I’m really proud of you, father. I’m proud…. that I can be here in this place you’ve built.」
——————————————————
Just as Sui found his way through meeting the people of Sidera, the encounter with Sui was also a turning point for the people of Sidera.
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