Infiltration! The Broadcast as Seen from the Holy Kingdom (2)

After that, Narikin continued exploring the meadow while showing off easy victories. The audience stayed hyped, heckling whenever Saintess Alka shot Narikin a passionate glance, and going wild over idle chatter like "what's your ideal woman?"

The "ideal woman" question came from someone in the plaza, naturally.

"… My ideal woman, you ask? Well, I have a wife, so… my wife, I suppose."

"So you're saying you prefer whoever becomes your wife!?"

"N-no, that's not what I mean?"

"For example, what if Saintess-sama became your wife!!"

"In that case I'd treasure her, of course, but… hey, what are you making me say!"

"My, is that so, Narikin-sama?"

"That was a hypothetical! You aren't actually my wife, you know!!"

"Ufufu."

Well, well. Quite the little ruckus. Getting all flirty, are we???

Whistles and applause erupted from the audience.

This had become less about dungeon exploration and more about chatting. The broadcasting magic tool should be nearing its daily usage limit, but it looked like they were going to wind down with idle talk.

"Heh, Narikin-sama is still so young… When I took my second wife…"

"Hold on, how many wives do you have?"

"Two. Also, my wife has another husband, so we're a four-person marriage."

The Holy Kingdom practices polygamy, sure, but I didn't expect to run into it this casually…

"I was born and raised in another country and just came here recently… Is it really that common?"

"Hm? Really? That's unusual. Two-man, two-woman marriages are pretty standard. Good balance, you know?"

"Huh. Is that how it works… One woman is plenty for me, though."

"What, not man enough? A man with the means takes multiple wives. Narikin-sama has multiple wives too, right?"

Come again? — I was about to question that, but then it clicked. Oh, right. The Third Trial, at the arena. He's thinking of when I was in control.

"Those weren't his wives, apparently."

"What!? Where'd you hear that!? Narikin-sama intel that even I don't have…!"

I wanted to retort, "What do you even know about Narikin?" But if I did, I'd come off as an obsessive Narikin fan too… Then again, just being here in this plaza already makes me look like one. Fair point.

"Can you tell me more about that after this?"

"There's not much to tell. Narikin…-sama said himself that he only has one wife."

"But the way they were together at the arena? That kind of closeness only exists between a married couple, and Narikin-sama was clearly looking out for her. She's his wife in all but name."

"… I'd say she's more like a sister?"

In the sense that they're both monsters born from the same dungeon. Though I was the one inside that day.

And by that logic, Rokufa could be called a sibling too, but…

"Sisters become wives sometimes, you know?"

"… Seriously?"

"You really are new here, huh. Well, the sister's actual husband is someone else, and they don't have kids together."

Apparently, your wife's second husband also being married to your sister is fairly common. When a man and woman have grown up together since childhood, they already know each other's habits well, so it just happens naturally.

The Holy Kingdom really is something else… Their common sense is just too different from ours…!

"Then do you know about this? In this country, one of the ways for being recognized as married is a man and woman spending one month alone together in a dungeon."

"… Hm?"

"A whole month alone together in a dungeon. There's no way nothing happens…"

"W-wait a second. You're saying people automatically become married just from conquering a dungeon together?"

"Deemed married, technically. Though really, an unmarried man and woman wouldn't enter a life-threatening dungeon as a pair in the first place, and they certainly wouldn't hole up for a month."

Deemed married… Meaning the law would basically recognize them as a married couple.

"Well, you could refuse by claiming you didn't know, but if they trust each other enough to enter a dungeon together, they usually just go ahead and become a couple."

"Narikin-sama and Saintess-sama are…"

"Huh? There's no way they wouldn't know, right?"

Right!? He's a Papal Candidate and she's the Saintess!?

There's no way public figures representing the Holy Kingdom wouldn't know something that's common knowledge among ordinary citizens!?

"B-but, we're all watching the broadcast here, so they're not exactly alone, are they?"

"Huh? They are alone. Can you see anyone else in there with them?"

He's right…!? If anything, we're just witnesses!

Wait. If that's the case, did that bastard High Priest Barakdo deliberately set up the dungeon exploration assignment to engineer a marriage between the Saintess and Narikin!?

When you think about it that way, the earlier question "What if Saintess-sama became your wife?" takes on a slightly… no, a significantly different meaning…

What did Narikin say again? … Something about treasuring her?

"Well, looks like Narikin-sama's third wife is just around the corner! Oh, the broadcast's ending. Wanna grab drinks after this? Let's talk about Narikin-sama."

"Sorry, just remembered I have somewhere to be. Next time."

"Sure! See you at the next broadcast!"

I parted ways with Mr. Back-Row Mentor and quietly used [Teleport] to head home.

…

Narikin, they've got their sights on you…!!