You did well, Hokaze Kon.
Because of your hard work, we've completed the first ritual!
That's wonderful.
One question, though.
Yes?
These are marriage rituals, correct?
That's right.
And you're the one getting married, is that right?
That's right.
So, I'm not involved, right?
That's right.
Then why the hell do I have to do this?!
Do it yourself!
That is not something you make someone else do!
Why did I have to go down the river,
swallow all that water, and almost drown for you?!
Oh me, oh my, it looks like he's really cheesed off, poor fellow!
You're guilty, too!
It seems you are not aware of what a ritual entails.
This is a ritual, and rituals are tradition.
Yeah.
Right.
Tradition means conventions and practices,
which means no matter how unreasonable or absurd they may seem,
they need to be performed to the letter.
And if you were to ask me why, well,
the answer is that it's a ritual.
That is not an explanation!
And thus, the marriage rituals are proceeding wonderfully.
Right now, I am in the process of performing
a falling dominoes ritual.
This long, long winding road is a
physical representation of marriage itself.
Speaking of, what was the ritual that came after ritual number one?
That log passed the first ritual beautifully.
Now, you will carve swans to represent eternal love.
Swans?
Yes. Two swans swearing eternal love to each other.
What eternal love?!
Can you eat that?!
I don't give a damn!
Giving a damn is part of the ritual.
Then here I go!
Yeah? Not bad, huh?
You have now completed the second ritual.
Good job.
Next...
What, next? That's enough!
Just get married already!
That's not possible.
Stopping the marriage rituals halfway...
...would mean your death.
Just a second!
It's not even my wedding, so why do I gotta risk my life?
Because that's the ritual.
Not that again, I heard that already!
C'mon Princess! Do something!
Just leave it to me.
I'll get involved in the ritual, too.
Why are we folk dancing?
Our love must burn like a flame!
Oh, please!
The same song keeps spinning around and around in my head!
Someone! Help!
That was a good fire.
It made some nice ash.
Now you will use that ash to draw this here.
What kind of religion is this?!
It's not a religion. It's a ritual.
Love is something you build up diligently, little by little.
Those old timers knew what they were talking about.
I seriously don't care!
Good job, Kon.
I... I get it now.
A little grain of ash is the universe,
and the universe is nothing more than a grain of ash.
Macro comes from micro, and life has no end.
The truth is always with us.
Wha?
You're blowing away the truth!
Love is also something quite ephemeral.
Do I look like I care?!
Right.
That was the digest of the events up until now.
Right now, I, Hokaze Kon, am in the middle of performing the fifth ritual.
This is so annoying!
I keep putting these little things up, again and again and again.
It's like, how long do I have to keep doing this?!
That's 4,503,279 pieces.
4,500,000 pieces?
4,503,278 dominoes were felled for the previous Lord Jugglaburk's wedding.
Which is why this wedding must
exceed that number by at least one.
4,500,000 pieces, you know...
That's right.
It's a preposterous number, but that is the ritual.
It is the holy ritual that must not be sullied in any way!
4,500,000.
Is that the number of sweet nothings he will whisper in my ear?
Or the sound of thundering jeers?
One man is born, one woman lives, they meet and mingle...
The come together, and in that time,
how many words flow between them?
Hello?
You're not acting like yourself.
Maybe I'm a little bit jealous.
You're jealous? Why?
Marriage.
A word that will never be written in my journal.
That word, marriage.
I'm a tiny bit jealous of the princess.
Not that I can tell that to anyone.
That's funny, 'cause you're totally telling me.
I'm totally hearing it.
Isn't it strange?
I still have the urge inside me to love someone.
Men, women, I turn everyone's head.
I'm beautiful, I'm intelligent, and I can work hard.
My popular phase is never ending!
That is me, Mariandel!
And yet!
Sometimes it crosses through my chest...
I don't want to just receive!
I want to love! Passionately!
Earnestly! Someone!
Someone!
Excuse me.
I'm full.
You're right.
It's an adult's fairy tale.
Just forget it.
Just stop!
I have no intention of understanding your feelings.
No! I will follow you, even in death!
You're an idiot.
Do as you will.
Honey!
Will you knock off this idiotic lovers' quarrel dubbing?
Man, you need to learn how to take a joke.
Was that a lovers' quarrel?
Or was it a make out session?
What morons.
They don't even know that we're watching them.
Well, we're just observing them
and are holding back any sabotaging actions.
I can't figure out if they are simply pretending not to notice us
or if they really have not noticed us.
If they are merely pretending not to notice us,
that last exchange becomes even more absurd.
If they are really not aware of us though,
the fact that we lost against them even once
becomes even more annoying.
Do they really not know we're here,
but are still pretending that they noticed something?
Or do they know we are here and are wondering if they should
pretend that they know something, or pretend that they don't know anything?
Ultimately...
Which one is it?
Erec-sama?!
Erec-sama, get a hold of yourself!
You won't get an answer by agonizing about it.
The only thing we can do is...
...stop the wedding!
Why are you stealing my lines?
I thought you were setting up for me to say that.
I was just building it up!
It is as Erec-sama says.
Their movements are strange and warrant suspicion.
Shall we remember how we tried to sabotage the first ritual?
We just need to get get him off that log.
Shall we shoot him with arrows?
We can't leave any evidence.
Then how are we going to do it?
With seduction.
What?!
You guys think of me as some kind of funny erotic expert,
but that's not all that I am!
I am an erotic artisan.
I am an erotic priest.
I am an erotic performer.
I am an erotic specialist.
I don't care if you're an erotic, neurotic, or moronic specialist.
Just get to the point.
Full nudity!
It's in our interest not to leave a trace.
So what shall we do?
The erotic specialist has come up with a plan.
When you're going down a dangerous river on the back of a log,
you need concentration more than anything else.
Split-second decisions.
Take all of that away and you've got the solution!
And the ultimate weapon for that task is full nudity!
Nudist beach!
I've seen that in traffic lingo!
"Pretty women ahead. Keep your eyes from straying."
That means pretty women cause accidents!
Unfortunately we're men, but because we're a group,
he'll assume that a group of naked men belongs to a nudist group.
That means fully nude women should be around, too.
That's how we'll stoke his expectations.
I see, if that's the plan, I'll do it!
I'm ready to go!
Don't steal the show from me!
I'm sorry, the timing was just right.
Here he comes!
Big! Cut! Nice calves!
Ready? He's coming!
Gustave!
No, it wasn't my suggestion!
It was him!
That Hyperion is exhausted.
He should be at his spiritual limit.
His mind is sluggish and dim when suddenly
something appears that can't possibly be from this world.
His spirit will be beaten into an abyss of confusion and self-destruct.
Self-destruct...
So, why don't you tell us already?
No, wait, I'm honestly not interested in those things.
Wait, so does that mean that you prefer boys over girls?
No, no, no. That's not what I meant.
Suspicious...
So what about you, KT?
You're asking me? Now? If you're asking, I'll tell.
But before that, Variation, how about you?
I think I like kind girls.
That's normal.
Me, me, me?
Nobody asked you.
Ask me! Ask me! Ask me!
I'm sure, Erec-sama's ready to do it!
That concentration, it's nothing to trifle with!
Well, all our sabotage attempts failed completely so far.
What was that idiotic nudist idea?
And who was the one who got seduced by the
campfire and started a round of "who do you like"?
No!
No! No!
What?
Erec-sama went directly for a duel!
They do call Erec-sama the Golden Lion of Ulga!
No, that's not it!
Erec-sama couldn't let it slide!
His perfectionism didn't allow him to!
The line is crooked! Why can't you see that?!
The thickness is irregular, too!
Don't you know that the gods lives in the details?!
Give it here!
And watch!
You...
Erec-sama!
You're
amazing!
What?!
I didn't know anymore
if I could simply be here and do this.
I was just doing what I was told, the way I was told to do it,
running on rails that others had laid for me.
I was wondering if you could even call that being alive.
But meeting you made me realize
there are no rails.
The heart that thinks that there are rails is the rails.
What's with this pointless epiphany?
Why are you moved by this?!
We'll meet again. We'll have our rematch then.
Yeah.
What are you doing?!
That's what happened,
so the enemy has already smoothly progressed to the fifth ritual.
According to Roxana from "Maidream" in the 5th district,
the fifth ritual is domino toppling.
It looks like that's the end of the line for them.
They will certainly not move on to the sixth ritual.
Why? Because they will not succeed with this ritual.
Erec-sama, are you going to
use your Alma energy to cause an earthquake
and mess up all the dominoes?
I won't do anything like that!
We'll buy up all the dominoes!
What? The hell is with that attitude?!
I'm sorry. I simply can't sell them.
You said it was 450 before!
Why is it suddenly 620?! We just went to get money!
I'm sorry, but this is a free economy.
Who asked you for your wisdom?!
Enough, let's go to another store.
What?! One thousand?!
If you have no intention of selling them, just say so!
No, the price is such precisely because there are buyers.
Seriously?!
Totally serious!
It'll go higher even as we speak. Now it's 1200.
1200?!
I mean, it is Lord Jugglaburk's wedding.
They're saying money is no object.
They're so dirty.
Well, we also tried to buy them up.
What kind of funds do we have right now?
What I have right now is this.
Hey, that's barely anything. What are you spending it on?
Well, then how much do you have?
W-W-Wait! I'll bring more right away! I swear!
And how?!
There's adult alchemy, you know.
Yeah right, you embezzler!
And this is what I have.
That's it?!
The tutus for us five cut pretty deep...
That's why I said that the funds should be managed centrally!
You're too fussy!
Just because you think you can
file everything under "secret funding"!
If you were to manage our finances,
you'd never approve money to buy new weapons.
There is no need to replace them when they're still usable.
That sort of attitude keeps morale low!
Well, couldn't we get somewhere if us four
pool our money with Erec-sama's?
Say what?!
I'm sorry.
Poverty is the root of all evil.
Thinking about it, the sorority hasn't been sending us much lately.
Sheesh, they're so tight-fisted.
If I were the arch bishop, I would have cut us off right away.
Whose side are you on?
Financially, Jugglaburk has the upper hand.
At this rate they're really going to get married.
I would have never expected dominoes to go up in price this much.
There must be some insider trading going on.
So that means the price of dominoes
doesn't even concern Jugglaburk.
And even Jugglaburk is getting married!
Even Jugglaburk! Despite being Jugglaburk!
How dare he!
And what am I doing?! I can't even stop them!
I've only lost.
My balls and my chance at getting married!
Gentlemen, you're looking for dominoes?
Who are you?
I'm a black market dealer for dominoes.
I've got good dominoes.
I want to say something, but I think I'll lose if I do.
So what kind of dominoes do you have?
I'll have to see some coin first.
Wait, he could be a con man.
N-N-No! I'm not lying.
The dominoes I have are proper, real dominoes!
Top quality.
Then sell them at a proper price! 50 is fine, right?!
I can't do that. My livelihood depends on this.
If you have dominoes, we'll buy them at your price!
This world has a free economy.
We'll take that man's dominoes.
I have a firm stance against unnatural price hikes!
Stay out of this!
You stay out.
Mister, the dominoes are mine, right?
Sir, I won't allow any crooked business!
Hey, let go or you won't get away unscathed.
No, you let go. Then we'll let you leave.
Hey! Hey!
You're hurting the innocent black market dealer.
So what?
I just want the dominoes.
Then let's do it this way.
The person who wants the dominoes,
the one who thinks that they are the rightful owner of the dominoes,
should pull this black market dealer with all their might!
Ready? Go!
That was scary.
You made me throw up some red wine.
Yeah, I thought you had been torn in half for a second.
So what's our Erec-sama...
And your woman doing?
Dunno.
Could it be? This man has no...
Could it be? This woman has...
Little did those two know
that this small incident would have a large influence
on the events yet to come.
Next Time
Day after day of marriage rituals are
making the princess more and more irate.
At this rate, that cowlick of hers will be back.
We have to improve her mood somehow!
Wait, this is a karaoke box?!
The karaoke contest from hell has finally begun!
Will there be any survivors left after?
And in the room next door, Incognito is having
a "cheer up Erec-sama" party.