And so, the wedding came to a close, everyone had fun, and I had to endure the hangover of the century in the morning after. Thankfully, it seems my negotiating skills are still as sharp as ever though, as last night I managed to convince Adam to give Marina a week or so off so we can get well accustomed to our new joint life together. It’s nothing too fancy, but I at least want to give her a moment of reprieve as a way to atone for my antics last night.

“That being the case, just leave the housework duties to me and rest!” I said, “It’s imperative that you take proper care of yourself and our little guy, y’hear?”

Marina was still a bit sleepy from last night, despite spending the past half hour berating me about living it up with Adam during the final dance. Looks like she was mostly jealous the two of us stole the show, which is actually really funny in and of itself, but don’t tell her I said that. She was still in her nightwear, but it was nearing winter, so she was huddled up in the blankets.

“Hold on,” she asked me, “What makes you think our child will be a boy?”

“Hm?”

“You said our little guy, but we have no way of knowing what gender it’ll be until it’s born.”

Huh, I didn’t think of that. Honestly, since Nelly’s a girl, I kind of just assumed that the next on the lineup would have a member. Thinking back, yeah, that really makes zero sense, huh? I even came up with a cool name for if it’s a boy, but if it turns out to be a girl, I don’t know what I’ll do!

“That being said,” Marina added, ”I like Velma the best.”

…Eh?

“Velma?”

“Yeah! If it’s a girl, I’d like her name to be Velma! It’s really cute and fits her last name – Velma Pandora. By the way, if it’s a guy, my vote is on Gunther.”

She sounded all too proud of herself, like she had the whole thing figured out easy-peasy… even though there were countless flaws in her statement.

“Velma is… Eh!? Gunther!? Wait, that’s not the issue here! To start off, our last name isn’t Pandora, it’s Grimheart! Remember, we got married last night, which means both you and our child inherited my last name.”

“Well, we got married as Pandora’s, no? Legally, its name will show up as Pandora no matter how you look at it.”

Wait, that’s not how it… Huh? D-Did I just make a mistake? No wait, that can’t be, that’s illogical!

“But Pandora isn’t either one of our legal last names! It’s a pseudonym, which means it doesn’t hold up law-wise.”

“It doesn’t?”

“Yeah! You can’t just up and change your name all willy-nilly, there’s a whole process to getting your legal name registered! I’m speaking from experience here, but when the kid gets born we’ll have to take it to the town hall otherwise it’ll be as if it was never born in the eyes of the law!”

I tried explaining to her the whole process Cecily and I had to go through when we adopted Nelly, but it seems Marina was a real blockhead when it came to paperwork and law. Kind of reminds me of Ed in a way…

“N-Never mind! We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it!” Marina stopped the argument in one fell swoop, “Back to the original topic – what would you name the child then?”

“Right, that! Hmm… If it’s a boy, then I really like the name Licht.”

“Licht… alright.” She kept an open mind, ”And if it’s a girl?”

“I… don’t really know. I never thought too much about it. Let’s see… Something with ‘mil’ in it, probably.”

“Mil?”

“Yeah, it means ‘Dear’ in Cardinic, right? Since she was conceived here, I’d at least like a part of her birthplace to always accompany her. Wherever she decides to go.”

Marina joked about how deeply I was looking into this, and was also equally as surprised by how good I was at naming things. Even still, it’s not like I even came up with a name yet. Even though it’s a common word here, I still couldn’t think of any names that started with ‘Mil’. It was either boy names that came to mind, or some really old timey girl names, and I wanted something modern.

“That being said, we’ll leave it at that for now. I have something more important I need to figure out.” I said as I got up from the couch.

“And that is?”

“I need to send a letter to the guys back home. Last night’s party was really fun, but without Ed and the gang it just isn’t the same. I need to tell them about us sooner or later, but it’s really difficult to try and put so many excuses in one letter.”

Marina busied herself with pondering how to go about this, and eventually she came up with a pretty good idea.

“Why not just call Ed over and have him relay the situation for you?”

“Oh?”

“From what I’ve gathered, he’s a really kind soul. Wouldn’t hurt a fly, much less harm either one of us, so there’s nothing to be scared of. He’s also your best friend, and he’s well-acquainted with the both of us, so I’m sure he’ll understand. After a nice little chat where the two of you catch up, we’ll send him back and have him explain the situation to the others. And then, when the dust settles, we’ll just go back home without having to face any of the scrutiny!”

That’s…

“Isn’t that kind of abusing my friendship with him?” I asked.

“The way I see it, could you really call him a friend if he wouldn’t do at least this much for you?”

Hmm, fair point. But that opens up another can of worms. Where would we meet? Our inn is kind of on the periphery of the Grys Estate, so it’d be difficult for him to find us. This means I can’t call him to the bar that I frequent, which is a huge shame, cause that place is where I feel the most comfortable.

Then maybe the Grys Royal Castle? I’m sure Adam will allow it. But oh, if I do that, then I’ll have to tell Adam that I’m Lune, and that’ll just cause even more problems because he knows that I’m together with Cecily. Then where? Where could I call Ed over for a serious chat? A place that can be easily identified on the map, yet also someplace with privacy…

“That’s it!” I got a bright idea.

“What’s the matter?” Marina jolted from my sudden raise in volume, “What’s happening?”

“Nothing! I’m going out for a bit!”

Not even taking the time to get properly dressed, I dash out of the house and run to town. There I go to buy a pencil and a piece of paper, hastily write out the letter addressed to Ed (all the while making many mistakes which I had to cross out because of said hastiness), and then I sent it over via the post office. But that’s not all, because before I went back home for the day, I stopped by a local law advisor who I’ve heard good stories of and gently knocked on the door, trying so desperately to hold in my excitement. The very moment I heard a voice from the other side of the door go Come in I immediately busted in and with a loud shout I went:

“WHAT DO I NEED TO BUY THE ISLAND OF EXUUL?!”

“…” The law advisor fixed up his glasses, which had completely drooped down from the shock of hearing such a stupid question, “Nice to meet you too. I’m Edmund Lynn.”

“A-Ah! Right! My apologies, Mr. Lynn! I’m Lune Grimheart, no wait! Sol Pandora! Oh, but I’ll need to give you my legal name for this, I guess, so just call me Lune! I-In any case, I’ve heard of you through a work partner of mine named Horc, do you happen to know him?”

Mr. Lynn just waited for me to finish with a tired expression before he had me sit down and poured me a cup of tea. He had probably seen countless people just like me burst open his door with their crazy ideas, so I’m sure that’s the reason he was so prepared to face me in the moment. That being said, I’m sure he’s never seen someone with such an absurd idea like buying the Island of Exuul before.

“Just calm down and explain the situation to me clearly. I can’t give you any advice without some basic info. Oh, and of course…” He gestured with his hands that his services require monetary pay.

“Money isn’t the issue here!” I said as I threw a fat stack of shils on the table.

Now, his glasses hadn’t drooped down. They had fallen completely from his head as his jaw dropped. Certainly, after seeing a guy come in so rudely wearing nothing more than a tank top under his coat and a baggy pair of pants, the last thing he had expected was to be dealing with a rich man. Just goes to show how you should never judge a book by its cover!

“I-I see, Mr. Grimheart! Then it seems we have everything set up for your future plans!” He said as he picked up his glasses, “But still, please do give me the run down. I’m sure you’re we’ll aware, but the Island is owned by Cardina itself, meaning you’d have to seek an audience with the King, not to mention have a good enough reason for him to sell it to you.”

“The reason? Simple, I just got married yesterday!” I said as I proudly displayed the ring on my right ring finger, “That being the case, I want a place to celebrate our Honeymoon!”

The tired law advisor could do nothing but sigh after hearing this love-struck idiot go on and on about his new wife. I did catch him sneak a peek at my left ring finger, the one that beheld Cecily’s ring on it, but he had the decency not to pry too much, which I can respect. Even still, if all I need is to talk to the King about getting my hands on the place, then I can already check that off the list.

“Oh, and Adam and I are buds. He was there at the wedding. Just ask anyone that was there and they can confirm that we were amazing on the dance floor.”

Once again, Mr. Lynn could do nothing but open his tired looking eyes wide after hearing someone who looked like they made every wrong move in life suddenly boast about having such an incredible and unbelievable wedding reception. He immediately went to run a background check on me, and after leaving me in his office for a little while, he came back, flabbergasted, and shouted:

“You’re the legendary inventor, Sol Pandora?!”

“The one and only.” I exclaimed, “Oh, but please be sure to keep my real name a secret.”

“O-Of course! But at least now we can get down to business! You’ve come to the right place, Mr. Grimheart! Your new Honeymoon location will be completely owned by none other than you in just a couple weeks with my help!”

Heh, looks like I’m famous. All those days of being cooped up in my room and making up sporks and shit finally paid off. And to think Marina always told me to calm down with the inventing. If I slacked off for even a second back then, then I wouldn’t have the money nor the respect to be able to buy us a place on the map, so ha!

Finally, everyone can be happy now! With this, Ed and I can meet up in peace to talk things out. After that, Marina and I can go back home and I can once again be with the others. And most importantly, in buying the Island of Exuul, I will have set aside a page in the history books dedicated solely to me! This is it, my happy ending, I finally made it!