Danton’s Mansion
Shia laughed and said,
“Though, this mansion has never been attacked by vampires before.”
“That’s preferrable.”
I said and Danton nodded.
“It would be a very dangerous situation if the vampires had gone far enough to invade the house of the chief.”
“We must do our best so that doesn’t happen!”
Nia said with a smile.
“Oh, right. I forgot to give you the gifts.”
“You really shouldn’t have troubled yourself.”
Danton said modestly as I handed them to him.
“It’s nothing special. But at least there is a lot of it.”
“Thi-this! Why, it is from that famous store in the imperial capital! Thank you!”
“Woah!”
“Yay!”
Danton and the children who were there were very happy.
I didn’t think they would care so much about some sweets.
But I was glad that I had bothered.
At the same time, I wondered who these children were. Were they brothers and sisters to Shia and Nia?
As I wondered this, Danton explained it to me.
“These are not my children, but they are being raised in this mansion.”
“I see. So they are like your apprentices?”
“Close enough. For beastkin wolves, the entire tribe works together to raise the children.”
As we talked about this, Kathe stepped forward.
“I have also brought you all a gift.”
“Your Majesty, you are much too kind to us.’
Danton said gratefully. Kathe was the wind dragon ruler.
“I want you to take it since I worked so hard on it.”
Kathe said as she took out the mysterious statue from her bag.
She must have completed it yesterday. It was very good in quality.
Apparently, Kathe was good at sculpting. It was of a very handsome man.
But I didn’t know who it was. He looked a little like Eric, perhaps.
“Thi-this! Thank you so much! It will be our treasure.”
“Cluck! Cluck!”
Danton was very happy. And Lord Gerberga was excited for some reason.
Kathe nodded with satisfaction.
“Yes, yes. I am glad that you like it.”
“Kathe. Who is this anyway?”
“Hmm? Isn’t it obvious? It is the hero Ruck.”
Kathe said with a smug expression.
It was even more handsome than the one in the city.
“…But that doesn’t look like me at all?”
“What? That is not true. It is my masterpiece, you know?”
“Cluck! Cluck!”
Lord Gerbera flapped his wings happily as Luchila carried him.
Kathe had only recently learned how to tell humans and goblins apart.
So it could not be helped that she had made such an unrealistic statue.
“Wow!
“It’s so cool!”
“Miss Kathe, that’s amazing!”
“Yes. You are very talented.”
The beastkin children were also happy. Nia patted them fondly on the head.
“Oh, well.”
At least most people would not recognize who this statue was supposed to be.
I was hiding my ident.i.ty, after all.
So it was preferable that the statue was a little bit different from reality.
And so I pushed thoughts of it aside and gave Danton the most important gift.
“Here. This is from Princess Leea of the water dragons.”
“What! From Her Highness?”
“It’s water from the water dragon settlement. Drinking it helps heal wounds. There are also some fish from their lakes.”
“How wonderful! We will accept them gladly. …Please take them away. Be careful.”
“Understood.”
Young men of the tribe came and carried the water and fish to the kitchens.
“I will help too!”
“Me too!”
The children went with the men to help them.
“Father, you must be so happy.”
“You must thank Leea later!”
“Aye. But, Nia. Shouldn’t you call Her Highness by her t.i.tle?”
“It’s because we are friends.”
“I see… I suppose it is fine then.”
And then Danton looked at me.
“That is what Nia says…but is it true? Perhaps it is rude?”
“Leea seems to enjoy it. If anything, I think she would be sad if everyone only called her Your Highness.”
“In that case… But to think that my daughter would be friends with the princess… I don’t know what to say.”
Shia looked at him with exasperation.
“What are you saying, father? Nia is the apprentice of Mister Locke.”
“…Indeed. Is it not exactly odd that the apprentice of Locke could befriend a princess.”
Danton said with satisfaction.
And then he led us to our rooms.
There were lots of young people in Danton’s house, and they carried our things for us.
When that was finished, we moved to the drawing-room.
The chiefs of the beastkin were waiting there.
“Are you having a meeting today?”
If they were, I had chosen a bad time to come.
If they were busy, I should hurry up and return to my room.
“No, that’s not the case. They just came because they heard you were here.”
Danton said with a laugh.
The chiefs all stood up and gathered in front of us.
I bowed my head.
“Thank you for your help earlier.”
“We are so incredibly grateful that you have visited us, Mister Locke.”
They smiled happily.