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There was thundering applause.

We had been treated to five minutes of intense, passionate dancing. Though I was concerned about the glances King Rama kept shooting me during the dance. Honestly, the dancing itself was just as good as I remembered from that Indian film. It made me excited to see more performances on this level later.

Well, not all of them would be this good, but that was a result of most of the other nations showing performances being less developed or wealthy than the one hosting the event.

“Next will be a display from —. You have the stage.”

It was the turn of a country that didn’t have much influence.
Was someone from there at my hero proclamation? Not sure, I can’t seem to remember.

The performance of this small country was called “Teleporting without using skills”. It looked like teleportation skills were super rare, and it was probably an incredible feat to manage it without utilizing those, but… in essence, it was just a magic trick. Moreover, it was a rather clichéd one. The venue seemed excited about it, but it wasn’t that enjoyable for us earthlings.

The performance of the next country was about drawings, demonstrating a realistic depiction of the bride and groom. It was both fast and good enough to meet the standards of everyone, including the couple and the king, who knew that my skills were better. The one who drew the picture was apparently that country’s king, and he likely had a title like the master chef at Mephilad castle, which gave a boost to his skills.

What I can do is still better, though. Heh-heh!

“Next will be Mr. Heimdal, an SSS-Ranker from Yggdrasil, the country of the holy tree.”

It was the old man who helped Kanata and the others and visited our house the other day. He had a white beard and was carrying a hunting horn¹.

Let me think, I’m pretty sure his specialty is summoning magic.
Different from King Mephilad, who could call one or two overwhelmingly powerful beings, this man could apparently summon tens of thousands somewhat strong minions.

“In that case, Sir Chris, could you do the honors?”
“Of course.”

Heimdal had asked Chris for something. The archbishop took a device from his pocket that I recognized.

When I went over the venue over the course of my preparations, I was commissioned by the country to enlarge the stage, so it could be used for big performances. From how it sounded, they wanted to keep using it for large events even after the wedding was over. It now had the option to widen considerably on the press of a button.

This switch was now pushed.

“Ho-ho… Alim Nariwei is no ordinary person, after all,” Heimdal muttered, as he ascended to the stage.

“Then… let me show you the true power of the One-Man Army!” he announced when it had opened fully, and countless magic circles appeared behind him on the stage. There were so many, it felt like an exercise in futility to even try to count them.

“Come out, my underlings!” he shouted in a loud, dignified voice, before blowing his horn.

The sound echoed through the venue, seemingly resonating in the spectators’ very souls. Likely serving as the key to activate his invocations, I could see all the magic circles lighting up and something being summoned.

They were humanoid, somewhere between dolls and warriors. Their numbers seemed endless.

“An army needs the be united, doesn’t it? Take a good look.”

There was a bang, as the humanoid beings slammed the butts of their spears on the stage. A controlled movement that happened momentarily.

They started performing actions that could only be described as befitting an army. I was an SSS-Ranker too, so I could tell. Moving countless humanoid summons by yourself in such a precise manner was an incredibly difficult feat. Calling it amazing would be an understatement.

…I mean, I could probably do it if I tried, but it would take a ton of practice, or I’d have to use some kind of AI created by Item Master to make it look as if I was the one controlling them.

Put in Earth terms, it was like a group of countless people performing coordinated gymnastics. And any free moment was used congratulate the bride and groom.

This old man is strong.

Relying on few but supremely powerful individuals… I had always been an adherent of that creed, so this display came as a bit of a shock. With such leadership over this many fighters, he could likely fell even SSS-Rank magic beasts. Though he’d probably struggle against an evil god.

A short time later, the gymnastics performance came to a close. At the end, Heimdal delivered a light bow.
I clapped a lot.

“Then, next will be-”

To be blunt, none of the performances afterwards topped what Heimdal had shown us. Some among them were disappointing, and I ended up spending my time by looking at the decorations. Still… people certainly had fun.

“Finally, it is time for Alim Nariwei’s performance!”

It was my turn at last. I was worried that there hadn’t been any other performances from the Mephilad Kingdom thus far², but it was possible they wanted my part to represent the country.

In that case, I have to give it my all!

I climbed onto the stage.

1. This is a bit weird in the original; 白いひげの角笛ホルン (“hunting horn of white beard”) makes it sound as if the horn itself is bearded. I could imagine it having a small white part at the bottom, making it look as if it had a beard.
2. I guess the author forgot about that commentator from the fighting tournament doing a performance.

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