"...M-Marriage?!"
On a hill overlooking Rimuruber, the village of monsters.
While Adelio and Rimuru were giving names to the [Lizardmen], Shizue had come up this hill with Ria—and now cried out in shock.
Considering how she usually gave off a calm, composed air, even if she always looked like a young girl in front of her master, it was a remarkably strong reaction.
After all, this was a Hero who had not been shaken even when standing face-to-face with the [Demon Lord]s who ruled the world, yet she had been even more startled by a single sentence.
"M-marriage all of a sudden...?! Isn't that way too hasty...?"
Still, this time, her shock was understandable.
Because the question Ria had just thrown at her was—
"Hehe, why not? I noticed a long time ago that you liked Adelio, just like Chronoa does."
—whether she wanted to marry Adelio.
"Though I guess you're right. I may have asked a little too suddenly. I didn't expect you to be this unable to hide your true feelings."
"...Not a little. A lot too suddenly..."
Even if her dense master might not know, Shizue had always assumed that someone as perceptive as Ria had long since seen through her feelings. Avoiding Ria's gaze, she let out a low sigh.
She had never expected Ria to open with a blunt question about marriage like this, but she had been certain that someday she would ask something similar.
"...As I thought... are you... disappointed in me...?"
At last, slowly calming the turmoil inside her, Shizue met Ria's eyes and spoke—not as a Hero, but as nothing more than a young girl.
Falling for Adelio had been unavoidable. But even after learning that Ria was his lover, Shizue had continued to like him, and from Ria's perspective, she thought that could only be unpleasant.
No matter what anyone said, the place closest to Adelio had always belonged to Ria.
"...Hehe, as if."
But Ria, who was looking at Shizue with fond eyes as if she were adorable, smiled faintly and said Shizue had gotten the wrong idea.
"If I were disappointed in you, I wouldn't even have acknowledged you as my disciple. Though of course, that was never going to happen."
Ria, who cherished Shizue—whom she had raised as her beloved disciple for two hundred years—even more than the demons who had served her for tens of thousands of years, continued as she explained why she had brought her here.
"The only reason I brought you all the way here and asked about marriage was because I wanted to confirm your true feelings. You're the type who doesn't show what you really want very clearly, just like Luminous and Misery."
Ria's view was simple: now that even Misery and Rain, along with Sylvia and Ermesia, had already been permitted, adding one or two more would not change much.
Of course, she still disliked the shameless little strays who had yet to receive her permission and were still testing the waters bit by bit—like Chronoa, Luminous, Rimuru, and the sisters in hell.
But none of them were the sort of women who would truly give up just because Ria stood in their way. So lately, she had begun to think that if she firmly secured her place as the first wife, allowing a few of them might not be so bad.
Maybe Shizue, and Rimuru and Hinata if you took the jealousy out of them, wouldn't be so bad.
And so, from the moment Rimuru openly showed her jealousy toward Ria and named the village Rimuruber, Ria had decided to act personally.
Her goal was to create a battlefield with as little damage as possible by granting her acknowledgment—in other words, the acknowledgment of the first wife—and assigning the women she approved of to the positions of secondary wives or concubines.
No matter how powerful a [Primordial Demons] or a [High Elf] might be, bringing down all the women aiming for the place beside Adelio without anyone getting hurt was as close to impossible as made no difference.
"If you really like Adelio, then show it through your actions. Depending on the result, I might even respect your choice."
First came Shizue.
Unlike Rimuru, if she did not show jealousy toward Ria and was satisfied with an appropriate place, then Ria intended to allow her as well.
The Shizue Ria knew was not a girl who would greedily reach beyond the line the way her sisters would.
"So do your best, Shizue."
Of course, before any of that, Shizue first had to win Adelio's heart.
In the end, if Adelio did not accept her, then all of it would be pointless.
"Uh... um... I-I'll... try my best... maybe...?"
"Hehe."
Watching Shizue barely force out an answer in a flustered voice, Ria quietly wished for her success, then turned her head.
"It looks like Adelio's side has finished talking too, so let's head back."
The demon empress, carrying herself with the same effortless composure as always, simply moved forward today as well without losing that poise.
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