11
Manfrey opened the ceremony.
Starting with his gratitude to the hero from another world, Lecan, how he married his cousin, Lady Norma and how Wazrof Househould would welcome the <Saintess of the North> as a new member with her marriage with Lecan.
Then he praised how Lecan along with his groups of friends conquered the two grand dungeons of Tsubolt and Palcimo, and opened the path to victory in the <Beastmen War> with the power he obtained there, a feat that might very well have spared Zaka Kingdom from spiraling into constant wars to this day.
Then he introduced the two townlords, Zaidmahl whose broad-mindedness allowed Lecan to familiarize himself with Zaka Kingdom, and Vouka townlord whose actions helped Lecan to decide in settling down in Vouka.
Afterward, Manfrey narrated such.
Hating, oppressing and removing those you don't know, those who are foreign to you is easy.
Reaching an understanding, offering a hand and living with those you don't know, those who are foreign to you is difficult.
But the great blue sky refuses no wind nor cloud. Thus the extent of the great blue sky's vastness.
This land loathes no tree nor grass. It accepts even the dead, purifying and turning them into its own. Thus the eternity of lands.
Rightly discern good from bad, fear the hostiles, and befriend the friendlies. Therein lies the key to prosperity. And over a long period of time, even the bad could turn good, and the hostiles could turn into reliable allies.
However, thus may be a feat unattainable for some towns. Unaffordable for some villages.
Some of you must once harbor the thoughts of not fitting in a town, not truly living in a village.
Leave and come here. You the wise who don't have a place in this world.
Leave and come here. You owner of abilities incomprehensible by those near you.
Our Mashajain shall be a place to stay for all cast away. It shall be an inn to visitors from afar.
Those who are here now will be the foundation of this kingdom's prosperity for thousands of years.
Lecan is one among such individuals.
Norma and Eda have too brought about affluence through their unique talents.
This auspicious celebratory feast is dedicated for the marriage of these three.
We offer our most heartfelt gratitude to many lords who have endured through long perilous passages to arrive here.
Today, I sincerely hope you could enjoy yourself to the fullest.
Glory to Zaka Kingdom. Yale.
At first Manfrey only planned to invite a few earls and viscounts with close relationships to Wazrof. He'd treat the populace in the heart of the city to some drinks and then send some gifts to town nobles and influential merchants, and that would be the end of it, or so he thought.
The banquet was to be held in the mansion, with a guest list not exceeding 100.
But then, just before they settled down on the program, Earl Chada and Earl Rotor expressed their wish to attend.
Then on month 1 of this year, just as they decided on the date, several noble houses that know Wazrof contacted them.
Then Marquis of Tranche even requested to be invited for himself and his first lady.
The first lady of present Marquis of Tranche, is a daughter of <Snow Flower Princess> Lorecia. Norma's aunt. She must wish to see Norma in her bridal gown in place of her late father and mother.
Their daughter, Lady Heles also requested an invite through Eda.
Another request then came from Marquis of Tsubolt. Followed by Marquis of Gido, and Marquis of Smarc. As well as Marquis of Palcimo.
On the first month of this year, Marquis of Tsubolt's peerage rank was raised to fourth place. In other word, among the top six houses consisting of Marquis of Tranche, Marquis of Mashajain, Marquis of Yufu, Marquis of Tsubolt, Marquis of Gido, Marquis of Smarc, five of the Top Six Houses as well as Marquis of Palcimo, who may be on the seventh rank yet possess equal authority as the six above will be attending the ceremony. In addition, Marquis of Egis, a house that has a deep connection with Marquis of Tranche, even asked for an invite. Then on month five, a messenger of Marquis of Yufu came by with five God Cures as gifts asking for an invitation letter to Lecan's wedding addressed to the marquis himself. All six top houses are coming.
Thus a rumor began to spread, about an upcoming huge festival in Mashajain, beckoning interests by other lords. This was especially true after the <Battle of Dorn Plain> where they saw a huge influx of requests.
This was partly due to Lecan, but that's not all.
It was also partly due to Mashajain's authority, deeds and fame, but that's not all.
Put into a word, it's akin to a surge.
Then might as well ride on this surging wave, thought Manfrey.
As there was a huge increase of noble houses that must be invited, they made the conditions of invites stricter.
As a general rule of thumb, in case of Marquis houses, each house get five invites.
<TLN: Catch the latest updates and edits at Sousetsuka .com >
Three invites to earl houses, two for viscount houses.
Nobles without peerage ranks will only get invites through personal discretion.
The numbers of attendants are fixed as well.
For marquis houses, each invitee gets to have up to three attendants who can also enter the Wazrof venue.
Earl and viscount houses can have up to two attendants per invitees, permitted to enter Wazrof venue.
Commoners can only enter if they're the invitees. In exchange, those who are known to go with them are automatically invited. Say, for Guide Skalabel, his invitation has, [Amamir Tarance-dono] and [Other attendants] added.
As the number of guests grew, more and more relatives who weren't originally going to be invited requested their invites.
At first the plan was to let the guests stay in Wazrof mansion, but it was quickly made clear it wouldn't be possible, they had to rent inns in the town which still weren't enough they ended up renting citizen houses as well. The order for foodstuff turned into something fierce.
With the increasing scale, more and more town officials, influential merchants and artisans and even commoners began asking to attend the wedding.
In the end, there were eight marquis houses, 16 earl houses, 28 viscount houses, 82 peerage-less noble houses, as well as one member of royal family, one official of PM Office, totaling 724 individuals including attendants. Two viscounts were among Marquis of Yufu attendants, thus they were not included in the 28 houses. 28 are the number of formal invitation letters. Same with peerage-less nobles, including the attendant ones the real number easily exceeded 100.
For relatives, there were 162 from Wazrof, 12 from Ulban, eight from Zaidmahl, 42 from Goncourt, 194 in total.
Special mention to the marquis house, one house sent the present head and his first lady, while the other seven sent the heirs or sibling of the present heads. As Yufu heir himself also came, the line up in this ceremony might actually even surpass the crown prince's wedding.
Heles came with her fiance which had just been decided right before the event. He was regarded as her attendant out of necessity, but as this fiance, Sariel Gossen, is the heir to Marquis of Sopdemoa, in reality there were nine marquis houses attending.
On temple side there were 42 Yuminos members, and 11 Ceres members, 53 in total. By the way, ten of this 11 were from Vouka while the last one is the Vice Temple head of Capital Main Temple, Marlia Fotos. Marlia wanted to go as one of Skalabel's attendants at first, but once she found out it was not doable, she somehow managed to force her way and slip in among Vouka Ceres entourage.
There were 722 commoners from Mashajain and 96 from other territories. Most of these 96 were personally invited by brides and bridegroom such as appraiser Termin, and transcriber Rakrus as well as retainers like Commander Tesla of Ulban, or people with special positions and technical skills.
1798 people in total. However, this is the number on guest list, in reality there likely were more than 2000 people in the venue itself. Those who brought their wives or children can't exactly be turned away. Smiling back to ask for favor is the way of the nobles. Some temple personnel also brought along their relatives. You could only look the other way when ones such people go around tasting food.
On the eve of the ceremony, a great number of nobles in the royal palace requested their invites. These nobles were descendants of people who were close to founder king, holding a variety of posts in the royal palace. Even those without posts have their ways to be useful through connections or skills. Inviting them would necessitate letting them stay in the mansion, but as there were simply no more rooms left, Wazrof had to refuse them.
The number 2000 are just those who enter Wazrof venue and eat there.
Many of the lords would bring escorts, luggage carriers and such, from 50 to 100 or even more each. Marquis of Smarc even brought along a troupe of musicians to entertain the venue, while Marquis of Gido brought an acrobatic group.
There were also those who use this chance of traveling near the capital from afar to have a tour.
These distant land travelers arrived several days before the date. Some marquis houses even arrived seven days before even though they should have made some adjustments not to arrive too early.
They would tour around Mashajain, eat the food there and bought things.
There were more than 8000 people who got lodgings through Wazrof service alone. The house aide Fujisur almost went mad.
The air of festivity is infectious.
You'd get to drink to your heart's content at Mashajain.
You'd get to watch some fun stuff.
You'd find so many unusual objects from all over the kingdom there.
With such rumors spreading, more and more people surged into the town.
Eventually all the inns got fully booked and some resorted to camping out.
And then so too gathered those who aim to sell their wares to all this people. Five days before the date, the town was full of street performers and musicians trying to earn their keep.
Thus Manfrey in the end decided that on the night before the wedding day, all inns and diners in the town, not just at the heart, to serve one cup of drink to one guest, free of charge with all expenses going to Wazrof.
Thus the festivity soaked through every corners of Town of Mashajain.
The people would call their friends, their relatives, their neighbors to have meals and toast together.
It was a festival on a scale unlike anything before.
What turned into an unexpected confusion was the gift acceptance.
The mansion had made some preparations to receive gifts from the invited guests.
But then, surges of uninvited people pushed their way into the mansion to deliver their gifts. Normally, the officials on the side gates would handle them, and they did manage to deal with it on the day before the date, but an endless line of people with gifts was formed on the wedding day. They just barely managed to fill in enough personnel to lead those with gifts into the nearby buildings. Almost all the guest buildings' lobbies and hallways were filled with gifts. The guests who were staying there were in shock when they saw those gifts on their way back from the banquet.
By the way, due to the explosive increase of invited commoners from outside town, merchants from outside ended up having to stay in accommodations outside the mansion, except for one foreign merchant which was allowed to stay in the mansion.
It's Chaney.
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