“You really like to cut things close.” Otto laughed when he saw me.

The first time I had met him, back when he was Lydia’s slaveholder, Otto had been a fat guy a few years older than me. He was arrogant, childish, and immature. A few months under his father’s command in the war had seemingly changed him by a lot. He had slimmed quite a bit and had seemingly grown a permanent haunted look in his eyes. He looked more mature now and seemingly saw me as one of his few friends.

He seemed glad to see me now, since he had been forced to meet up with his brother and sister a few days ago, and had thus had that to deal with.

“How much time do we have?” I asked.

“You were supposed to present the couple with a gift sometime in the last two weeks!” Otto sighed. “No matter, I guess you’ll have to give it to them during the reception.”

“A gift?”

“You do have a gift, don’t you?” His eyes widened in surprise.

“Yes, we have prepared an appropriate gift,” Eliana spoke up, stroking a storage ring on her finger.

“Ah… yes… that.” I gave her a thankful look.

I didn’t know the first thing about attending a wedding, let alone a wedding in another world.

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“It’s best if you freshen up and get ready. The ceremony is in only two hours.” He declared.

I had noticed Otto was already getting dressed.

“Where is the rest of your family?” I asked.

“Father is already at the castle. He’s had treaties to sign and meetings to attend almost since he got here.”

This was a unique opportunity for Aberis to touch elbows with the powers of the Ost Republic and even the dwarves and esmere. The general had been busy trying to create treaties and alliances. Usually, Aberis would have been left out, so this created a unique chance for us to gain some stability. I had kind of dropped the ball on that, but no one would argue that the threat in the west wasn’t more important.

Officially, it was an eternal dispute between Lord Reign and myself. The rumors that Demon Lord Aberis had appeared in the west likely would take months to spread, and would mostly be ignored as unbelievable anyway. Only those that were at the highest levels in Aberis knew the truth, like Otto here. As for the Ost Republic, we had no intention of telling them. Thus, I was just a late comer showing up at the very last second, and a small player in the events that would transpire.

This didn’t worry me too much. My territory didn’t touch the Ost Republic, so there wasn’t too much in the ways of meaningful trades and alliances I could establish. We were still new, and I hadn’t even taken out Lord Reign yet. We consisted of two towns that had barely even become cities yet. My territory was far too small and underdeveloped that I wanted to take anyone’s notice.

I had already gained too much notice in the Ost Republic since they had once sent one of their units to kill me. We had ultimately separated under amicable circumstances. Now, with the cease-fire in effect, it would be impossible for them to attempt anything on my life. However, I was curious about what had happened to Alysia. She probably would be pretty shocked to see the current me. Maybe I’d see her at the wedding. Only time would tell.