TL:Yuki
_________________________________________________
The Awarding ceremony ended up as strange. The victory was declared as Aidle and there were no problems with that, what was problematic were who to declare as the second and third place.
The heroes were tied-up and enslaved with slavery collars for many crimes like kidnapping, intimidation, violating of rules of compet.i.tion, and even declaration of intent to destroy the country. As a result, the heroes were greatly restricted in their actions and trying to activate their skills would be nothing more but foolish, they were also made to take no other actions than those that were necessary or what was authorized and was sent to the castle"s jail. Also, they have declared for La Veil to be placed as second place.
Next, Morial was declared as 3rd place. It was because other than him, everyone else quit knowing what they would end up with if they fight the hero and also because they want to consider Morial"s current condition. However, it was imposible for Morial to appear at that time with his current condition so Suvia was a.s.signed to receive it and would be handed to him later.
At first, Suvia rejected the offer, but when they said that he would definitely be pleased if he received it and with Aidle directly handing it to her, she reluctantly accepted it.
And that awarding ceremony was held inside the castle. The ones present during the awarding was Aidle, Arena, La Veil and Suvia, and those who witnessed it were senior n.o.bles and royal knights that served as guards, along with Mondol who was seated at the throne.
「A lot of troublesome things has happened, but I was happy that were able to end it peacefully, and as for the rewards, I will be sending it to everyone in accordance to the level of battle performance they have displayed 」
The king then stands up and grabs a scroll handed by a knight standing beside him.
「First of all, as a subst.i.tute of the magician Morial, Suvia, come forward」
「Ha, Hai!!」
Mondol was declaring the rewards while holding back from giggling because of Suvia"s nervousness.
「The reward will be 300 gold coins and 10kg of revenant ore. I will be direct with you, from now on be sure to live strongly without getting lost」
「Ha, Hai!! Thank you very much!!」
「Um. Next in line is, the Runner-up, Violent Storm of Roaring Flames La Veil」
「Umu!!」
La Veil came up front and in a majestic stance. Although she was just in runner-up position, she still showed a satisfied look.
「You will be awarded 500 gold coins and an ancient magic tool from the age of myths, a Ring-Type Item Box with limitless capacity. With the battle capabilities and strong will that you have displayed, such award would probably be not enough for a person who would even deserve to be called a G.o.ddess of war. 」
「You can leave it to me!!」
「And finally, the winner, the leader of 『Fairy"s Banquet』 , a Peach from the Town of Blooming Ice, Aidle, come forward」
「Hai!!」
Aidle came up front in her usual way. Now that the power of fairy magic have subsided completely, the n.o.bles who were watching here where commenting things like 「Is that really the person who defeated that hero and was fighting in the finals…? 」 and was staring at her with doubtful eyes. At the same time, they were fascinated by her cute gestures and lovely appearance.
「For the time being, I will be offering 1000 gold coins and a wish… No, let"s make it three wishes as an exception for this time. Your achievements were not only hailed within the Stadium, but you were also the one who has freed this country from the darkness lurking within it, you can tell me anything you desire and this country will provide as much as they can accommodate within it"s acceptable range」
Aidle"s PoV:
Ohh, an unexpected opportunity was given to me. Well, I was expecting something different though. I was actually thinking that they actually scold me for treating the heroes as criminals, but instead I only received warm gazes from everyone when I came here. What, what is with these old geezers? Are they thinking that I resemble something like their grandchild or something? Are they all idiotic gramps?
Oops, I lost track for a bit there. Because I was given the chance to ask for three wishes, there was no need to negotiate. I"ll just return later for the other ones, but for I confirm with the first one.
「Then for the first one, we, the three of 『Fairy"s Banquet』 would like to have a meeting with the king and his closest aids with the highest position of authority」
「…um, fine that shall be granted!!」
It pa.s.sed. Well, if we declare to only meet the king then there will be a lot of complaints that would fly out so instead of that I decided to include other people close to the king.
「The next one. I want a border pa.s.s that would allow us free access to anywhere in this country and others if possible」
「That is also fine. We will prepare the pa.s.s at a later time」
This one is also OK. Then the last request before we proceed with the meeting.
「The last one would be, permission to access the royal library」
「Well… for adventurers, that sure is a rare request, I didn"t expect that. As long as you won"t be damaging or stealing any of the books then it would be fine. I"ll also issue a permit for that at a later time. Is that everything? 」
「……Hai, thank you very much」
Well, I didn"t expect to actually be nervous about this. I have been through a lot and all, but maybe a part of my past life"s interaction got awakened. When I returned to my previous location, the king eased up and returns to his seat.
「This is the end of the awarding ceremony. Suvia, you may leave」
「Ha, hai, e, excuse me……」
After she left, the King stood up once more and walked in front of Arena. Is the something he wants?
「Arena of 『Fairy"s Banquet』. I have called for you this time because I wanted to apologize. First, it is about the hero"s outrage, and the other is about the bet」
The king began speaking in a loud voice so that everyone on the venue could hear him that includes all the n.o.bles present.
「First of all, in regards to the abduction」
With that said, the words spoken by the King caused a little uproar, but he immediately ordered everyone to calm down.
「We are asking forgiveness. We were the ones who are supposed to be in charge of watching over the heroes, yet we weren"t able to stop them. I know it"s a shameless request from our own carelessness, but are you willing to forgive us? 」
It was probably the best form of apology he could offer. Even as a King of a country, he gave priority to his own personal feelings and apologized to a single adventurer without even thinking about his pride or majesty. I look towards Arena, and when I told her 「do what you want」 she smiled with great enthusiasm and approached the king. A Royal Knight wary of the move tried to stop her but was ordered to let it be.
When she was in front of the king, she lightly brushed his cheeks and made him raise his face. The two were staring at each other.
「Everything Forgiven. Ojii-chan a good person!!」
「O, Oji!?」(zukyun)
After Arena called her Ojii-chan the king showed a big satisfied smile. As for me and La Veil, we trust Arena"s words and with that, our trust for the king has also become firm. There will be no mistake if it was decided by Arena. I"ll have to confirm things later though. There was also that sound as if something was shot straight at the king… must be my imagination. The king was trembling.
「…is, is that so……I am extremely grateful」
「Ehehe~♪」
Oi, Ojii-san. Why are you suddenly patting Arena"s head? Do you want to be killed by La veil? Oi, La Veil, put away that halberd, why did you take that out? No, that is not your privilege that was originally my privilege.
Seemingly satisfied, he now moves to the next topic of the agenda. Fuuuu……
「Regarding the bet, after all our calculation, it was an amount closely equivalent to our country"s operational funds for the next 1000 years」
「「「Wha!?」」」
Speaking of operational funds of the country, it would income coming from taxes and trade gathered from territorial n.o.bles that governs different regions. The n.o.bles were too shock to hear about the bet reaching a 1000 year equivalent of all their income combined. I see, that"s it huh, there"s just no way for them to secure such an amount even if they did their best, not in at least 1000 years that is.
「I am sorry in regards to that, but I would like for the bet to at least be settled on a term based payment and we will only be paying a bit of it upfront. The rest would be processed through the adventurer"s guild every month. I"d like to as for forgiveness in regard to that too…」
「Hmmm… emergency consultation!!」
Arena return back to us and the three of us from 『Fairy"s Banquet』 held an impromptu meeting.
「What do you want to do? Whatever you decide, I accept it so there"s no problem here」
「I am also the same. So what do you want Arena?」
「All Donations!!」
「「Just as we thought」」
I hold them up for a it. I"ll decide after confirming some things if they would be possible. Depending on that, we will offer to donate everything. It didn"t really affect us because that money was originally nothing to us, but then if we say that it would be a donation, we might be able to add one more request.
And so I decided to ask for a subst.i.tute in exchange for the money, the question is if the king would agree to that.
「I will be taking over in regards to the talk about the money. I won"t make it worse so you can have a peace of mind, but it may also become a difficult problem altogether. So is it OK to suggest? 」
「I Don"t mind it. This is not a good place to have this. So let us move to a better place to listen to your terms」
Where we went to was a meeting room used by the royal family. The king sat down on a chair with a tall desk in front, and those who are his close aides sat near him, while the three of us were seated in front of him.
「Let us introduce everyone in here」
「Yes, let us do so」
After hearing my agreement, the King started.
「I am Mondol Virtella Galania, who is crowned and is in charge of managing this kingdom of Galania, the ones seated to my side to the left is the head of finance which seems to also know about everyone」
「I am the Director of Finance Belmour Veitiro. Thank you for your help in regards to my daughter and husband when you visited Canaria.」
So this person was Astel-san"s wife. He did mention before that she was working in the royal capital, but I didn"t expect to meet her in this place.
「How did you hear about us?」
「You see, they were sending me a lot of letters talking about the things you were doing」
Belmour-san was happily smiling as she was saying that. As to what was written on those letters, well I can somehow imagine what the contents would be.
「Cohon, well that is for the introductions then next here would be the prime minister in this country」
「It would be the first time for you to meet Aidle-dono and everyone. This one is called Duke Meinen Belland」
「Pleased to meet you」
It was a man in his 50"s who was donned with a splendid beard. A duke, is he a member of the Royal Family?
「I was being considerate of the atmosphere, as the young ladies introduce themselves 」
He is quite a friendly person and knows how to go with the flow, and Meinen-san then chuckled lightly as we were having a conversation.
「And finally, the one standing on my left, the commander of the royal knights」
「I am Magenta Niles. I have been also called to appear here but you can ignore my presence and go on, I will be keeping to myself everything that will be discussed so be relieved」
After saying his introductions, he went back to the wall and stood on attention. I don"t know if he was thinking that I might be a n.o.ble or something since that"s the air he was showing. Well, I not really one though.
Next will be our turn to introduce ourselves. I will also be introducing myself both as leader and representative.
「I am Aidle, to my sides are Arena and La Veil. We three are working together as a party called 『Fairy"s Banquet』」
The three of us stood up, bowed then returned to our seats. We will now begin our discussions.
「As a start, Aidle, may we hear the reason why you specifically need to ask me in this kind of meeting? Oh, in terms of formality, you can speak as you wish. The people present were not really concerned about it. 」
Oh, is that so? Then let"s end this formal way of speaking. It"s something that not even La Veil or Arena have ever heard of when I started talking formally.
「We are travelling the world for a purpose, but we would need to ascertain the personality of those we would want to disclose it to, that is why we require to meet them in person, and that person must be of a high rank within countries like a representative. A trusted individual would be given a certain letter, and that person we decided is you and we wanted to meet you in person」
「I see… so first thing we must do is to gain your trust」
「That"s about it」
Well, we"ll just see what"s going to happen… but for the time being Arena. Concentrate on the meeting for a bit, I"m starting to lose my concentration looking at you stuffing your face with cookies they have given. La Veil too, stop asking for more and telling them to bring more confections. Look the prime minister who was stern a while ago already turned into a goofy old granpa!!
「Sorry about this… really」
「No, same here too… sorry」
_________________________________________________
「Here Arena, more sweets for you」
「Hamu~, hamu~, Hmmm~!!」
「Oi, knight person. There"s not enough sweets, please bring in more」
「Arena, eat slowly, you"ll choke if you stuff yourself like critter. La Veil please hold back a bit」