The groom rode around the city before going to marry the bride—a famous tradition in Gars City.
Long ago, everyone in Gars performed this ceremony when they married. It was said to let all of Gars bear witness to the union. But as Gars City gradually expanded, only relatively wealthy families could afford to do such a thing. Especially after Leon revitalized Gars, the tradition became increasingly difficult to maintain—because Gars City kept growing, Leon had built a third ring of walls beyond the traditional two, creating a grand three-ring structure of "lord's residence—inner city—outer city." Today, Gars City covered an enormous area. If an ordinary person wanted to circle it on foot, they definitely could not finish in a day. Even on horseback, without changing mounts, completing the circuit in a day would be a strain.
A wedding was a joyous occasion, worthy of grand celebration. But no matter how grand the celebration, they could not have the groom ride out at dawn, brave the cold sea wind around the city, and return exhausted only at dusk.
That wasn't a wedding—it was a funeral!
If someone in poor health raced about like that for a day, half his life would be run out of him. And if he went on foot, by the time he finished one circuit, he would practically need to go to the hospital.
So after Gars City's outer city was completed, the tradition of the groom circling the city had no choice but to be abandoned. Even families who wished to follow tradition could only make one circuit around the inner city. Fortunately, broad roads lay between the lord's residence and the inner city, and between the inner and outer cities, so making a circuit was not much trouble.
However, Leon would not settle for