Level 1 Strongest Sage ~

Book 9: Chapter 37: Surprise Party

“Happy birthday, Tina-sama!”

“Happy birthday!”

Leaffa greeted Tina, and the rest of the Ernol family followed suit.

Our family wasn’t the only people gathered here now.

“Tina, happy birthday.”

“It’s the first time I celebrated a person’s birthday.”

“Same with me, Ifrit.”

Undine, Ifrit and Nome also came.

Sylph summoned them.

By the way, Sylph is already counted as a member of the House of Ernol.

The Four Spirit Kings were here, so of course —

“Tina, happy birthday.”

The Celestial Spirit King — Mai and Mei’s dad — also came.

“Happy birthday, Tina-sama!”

“Yeah, happy birthday.”

Count Yan and Holy Knight Shin also came from the Holy City of Sanctum. Count Yan was formerly a viscount, but he became the governor of Sanctum so his status was elevated to count.

Not sure why, but I got the feeling that it’d be good to invite Shin to this party, so I requested Elmia to contact him and to reach out to Count Yan while she’s at it.

These two rushed over here to attend Tina’s celebration.

“Tina~! Happy birthday~!”

“Happy birthday, Tina!”

Older Sis Charles and Older Bros Cain and Leon also came.

“I heard there’s a surprise party so we came.”

“We have also come.”

Glendale’s king and the Elf King also came.

Honestly speaking, I didn’t invite these two.

King Glendale came because Cain was invited.

I requested Sarion’s cooperation to stall Tina at Alheim while we did the preparations. The Elf King discovered the surprise party because of that, and he forced his way through my teleportation magic after saying that “Tina will surely be surprised if I also went to Halt’s mansion!”

By the way, the Elf King was dumbstrucked when he saw Sylph feeling at home in my mansion.

“Tina-sama, happy birthday.”

Naturally, Sarion was also here.

“Halt-sama, t-this is —”

Tina was speechless.

So, was the plan a success?

Not a single one of us showed that we remembered Tina’s birthday.

We pretended that we completely forgot it.

There’s no way I would forget it, of course.

We celebrated Tina’s birthdays so far, but she always seemed uninterested in it — she would even say ‘Oh, so it’s my birthday today, huh’. Even if she’s a Half-Elf, she still has the blood of the elves who could live for more than a thousand years. That’s probably one of the reasons why she’s no longer excited about it as before.

At any rate, she seemed pretty happy being greeted, but I wished she would have more fun. It’s her birthday, after all.

So, I planned a surprise party for her this year.

It’d be great if it would become a memorable day for her, at the very least.

“It’s your birthday today, Tina. Everyone gathered here to celebrate it.”

“N-No way…So you didn’t forget…”

Forget?

Eh? Did she properly remember this year that it’s her birthday today?

“There’s no way I’d forget that. It’s the day that my precious person was born so —”

Tina rushed towards my arms, cutting me off mid sentence.

It seemed that she’s also tearing up.

“...Tina?”

“I-I thought you will not celebrate my birthday for this year…”

Tears streamed down on Tina’s cheeks.

Er…

So did that mean you were just pretending to forget every year?

“Sorry for always trying to put up a front. I would drown in the anticipation of Halt-sama greeting me, so I can’t help it. My excitement soars as the date of my birth approaches, so I can’t even do my jobs…”

Oh, so that’s how it was.

“Sorry, Tina. So you were looking forward to it, huh.”

Maybe it would’ve been better if I didn’t hold any surprise party for her.

I even assigned a nasty role to Sarion.

Sarion had taken care of Tina since she was born, so there’s no way he would forget her birthday.

And yet, I persuaded him to act as if he totally forgot it.

If Tina remembered her own birthday, then she probably held a grudge against towards Sarion today.

I hugged Tina while gesturing an apology towards Sarion.

He just waved with a smile, as if saying that it’s fine.

──＊＊＊──

We started the birthday party again after Tina calmed down.

She cried in front of everyone, so she looked embarrassed, but they all acted as if nothing happened, so Tina also got into the mood pretty quickly.josei

If there was one thing regrettable, then it would be the lack of Tina’s handmade dishes. She’s the star, so there’s no way she would cook the feast.

I feel a bit apologetic to my other wives, but Tina’s cooking was still the best.

“I see… I already anticipated it, but it seems that I won’t be able to eat Tina's dishes.”

The Celestial Spirit King mumbled.

The last time he ate a meal of this world was during the wedding reception of Tina, Leaffa and I.

Tina was also the star at that time, so she didn’t cook.

He probably looked forward to eating her dishes after hearing about them from Mai and Mei.

The Spirit Kings other than Sylph also seemed to be anticipating tasting her dishes.

All of them were obviously feeling dejected.

Everyone’s spirits were lifted when I told them I would invite them over again once Tina was assigned to kitchen duty.

“Tina, this is your birthday present from me. In exchange for this — no, that’s not what I wanted to say but… please do treat me to your handmade dishes when Halt summoned me again.”

“F-Father, that’s—!?”

Mai and Mei were shocked when the Celestial Spirit King handed a palm-sized, glittering stone to Tina.

What might it be?

The twins seemed like they know what it was, so I would ask them later.

“This might be embarrassing after the Celestial Spirit King has bestowed that thing, but…”

Undine gave her a small jar filled with fluid.

Ifrit gifted her a lamp lit by flames.

Nome presented her a bouquet of white flowers

I could sense an absurd amount of energy from all of them.

The most unbelievable one was the stone gifted by the Celestial Spirit King.

I felt a bit scared about asking what they were for and how to use them.

My intuition was telling me that those were items that should be quarantined in the Spirit Realm for safe-keeping.

Tina was a bit worried after receiving them, so I decided to keep them for her.

I did what my intuition was telling me and stored them in the Spirit Realm.

After that, everyone who came to my mansion handed their gifts to Tina one by one.

I was the last one.

“Tina, mine is —”

“Halt-sama, please give me you!”

Eh?

“I want you for my birthday present, Halt-sama!”

“...We’re already married, so I’m already yours, Tina.”

“Just for the entire day tomorrow, please. I was so lonely today, so I want to hog Halt-sama to myself for tomorrow!”

Oh — so that’s what she meant.

I pocketed my present again after I realized that.

I was about to give the treasure called [Dragon King’s Eye], and it had my magic sealed within it.

It was destroyed during one of my first classes at the academy, so I repaired it.

I would just give it tomorrow when the mood is right.

“Got it. I’ll spend the whole day with you tomorrow, Tina.”