kscans

Chapter 42 - Respective Agendas

The party at the royal castle ended, and we headed to the rooms that had been prepared for us.

More exhausted than ever before, Bardos and I slumped onto a sofa. After all, the King had made that announcement to all the nobles.

"For their meritorious service, the adventurer party Intense Thought is hereby promoted to A-rank."

Applause followed the announcement.

But the underlying sentiment was clearly, They only made it thanks to 'Beautiful Sword'. The proof was in the cold stares directed at Bardos and me.

Personally, I couldn't care less about such looks. I had gotten more than my fill of them at my old company, so I was used to it. Bardos also seemed unfazed as he focused on his meal.

When the party was over, we were about to look for an inn when the maid who had been assigned to me said, "The King has prepared rooms for you. Please, make use of them."

She then led us there. Doing things I wasn't used to was exhausting—even more so than hunting or adventuring. As I was thinking this, there was a knock on the door, and a maid entered. Tina and her party followed behind her.

The maid said, "The members of Beautiful Sword wished to see you, so I brought them here. I will take my leave now. Please call if you need anything."

She bowed to each of us and left. Tina and Leona were in their armor, while Rumily and Milfy were in their combat attire. They had worn dresses prepared for them at the party, but now they were back in their familiar gear.

Tina sat down next to me, and Leona sat next to Bardos. Rumily and Milfy sat on a separate, empty sofa.

Tina spoke. "In the end, things went just as you wanted, Shinsuke. But let me say this. I am sorry. We've stolen your credit, both with the Orc King and now this. This is the second time."

As Tina bowed her head, I replied, "Don't worry about it. With the Orc King, it was because I didn't want to stand out. It's the same with the Kraken. If anything, I should be the one apologizing. Did my selfish actions make you uncomfortable? Having to pretend you defeated something you couldn't on your own."

At my apology, Tina said, "Not at all! We're the ones who stole your accomplishments..."

Seeing that we were just going back and forth, Leona interjected, "That's enough. How long do you plan to keep this up?"

Her words put an end to it.

As an awkward silence filled the air, there was a knock on the door. After a reply, a maid entered. But though her hair was tied in a ponytail, I recognized her face.

It was Princess Olivia.

Tina said, "...What are you doing here, having left your room, Princess?"

To her words, the princess replied, "Why, to talk, of course. I came to hear about the exploits of Intense Thought, not just this recent subjugation."

The princess sat down in a nearby chair with a dignified posture. As expected of royalty, I thought, as Bardos and I began to recount our story from the beginning. Of course, we left out any mention of Earth. They wouldn't have believed us anyway.

After we finished, the princess said, "Quite a tale. With a few embellishments, it could be made into a hero's story."

She said this while taking notes. She had somehow produced a piece of paper and a quill and was writing down my story. I wondered what she was up to, but I didn't understand the thinking of royalty, and even if I asked, she probably wouldn't answer. It would be utterly foolish to get thrown in jail for some crime for asking the wrong question.

Having reached that conclusion, I relaxed.

Just then, there was another knock on the door, and a maid poked her head in.

"Excuse me. Prince Alphonse has arrived."

With that, the maid let the prince in. She then left, and since the prince himself had come, I straightened my posture a bit. Tina and the others did the same.

The prince said, "There is no need to be so formal. This is not a public place. Please, relax."

He looked around the room and saw the princess.

"Olivia. I won't ask what you're doing, but please stop with the disguises."

He instructed her, but the princess acted as if she hadn't heard a thing.

The prince sighed and turned to us.

"Regarding the recent subjugation... though there were reasons, the matter of falsifying the report to give Intense Thought's credit to Beautiful Sword... On behalf of my father, I have come to apologize. I am truly sorry."

The prince bowed his head.

Seeing this, I said, "Not at all. For us, it was a welcome development. We didn't want to stand out any more than we already have. Right, Bardos?"

Bardos nodded in agreement.

Seeing this, the prince said, "Thank you for saying so. My father was also pained by this. Even if it was a measure against Rodel the Flash, for the King himself to commit such a deception is something that should not have happened."

The prince's eyes were serious. His gaze was half-sincere, half-a-warning. His eyes were saying, If you speak of this, there will be consequences. Everyone else, including me, seemed to understand, as we all nodded.

Seeing this scene, the princess said, "This is wonderful. A touch of conspiracy within a glamorous atmosphere. This will make for an even more interesting story."

She said, her pen flying across the paper. The prince looked at the princess and sighed, but said nothing more. Just then, there was a knock on the door, and a maid entered.

"Excuse me. The members of Rodel the Flash are here. Shall I let them in?"

We all looked at each other with weary expressions. We had a good idea of what Rodel the Flash wanted.

Realizing this, Tina said, "Please ask them to leave."

She conveyed the refusal to the maid.

A moment later, a string of curses echoed from the hallway, and the door was thrown open with force. A group of four entered.

The first was a man of 180cm, dressed in golden full plate armor. He wore a red cape, had blond hair, blue eyes, and a handsome face. At his waist was a sword in a golden scabbard decorated with a vertical line of multicolored jewels. The hilt and guard were also gold. At this rate, the blade itself was likely gold as well. The young man, Rodel, was dressed to stand out in every way. His golden sword's name, by the way, was Chrysaor.

The second was a man of 200cm, in blue full plate armor. On his back was a greatshield of silvery-white, and at his waist was a mace of the same color. He had silver hair, a rugged face like a man of stone, and green eyes. His build was worthy of being called a pro wrestler. A man of great presence, Glad the Iron Wall.

The third was a woman of 140cm, wearing a black pointed hat and a black cloak. The clothes peeking out from beneath were a dark blue, long-sleeved, dress-like garment. In her left hand, she held a staff as tall as she was, with a rounded top, light brown in color. On her right wrist was a white bracelet with five gems of red, blue, yellow, green, and orange. She had brown hair, sharp eyes, and wore glasses, giving her the look of a beautiful adult woman. Her eyes were brown. Her appearance was befitting of a witch. The witch's name was Matilda the Magician.

The fourth was a girl of 150cm, in a sister's habit with a large cross drawn in the center of the front. On her head was a hat like a game's priest would wear, also with a cross in the center. The clothes and hat were white, and the cross was yellow. She carried no weapon, only a white bag. She had blue hair and golden eyes. Despite her youthful appearance, she exuded a saintly aura. A figure worthy of being called a holy woman. Sister Marial.

The four of them barged in. But looking at their faces, only the blond man seemed pleased with himself. The other three looked apologetic. In this situation, it was easy to tell that this man was Rodel.

Rodel said, "It's been a while, Tina. I'm glad to see you're as beautiful as ever."

He then forcefully sat down next to Tina.

Not wanting to be touched by him, Tina scooted over, pressing up against me. Rodel acted as if I wasn't even there and continued to speak to Tina.

"Your subjugation of the Kraken was magnificent, I hear. As expected of an adventurer who is the pride of our kingdom, just like me. But you're so cold. You should have called me. Then you wouldn't have had to fight alongside the incompetent navy."

Rodel spoke like a typical pickup artist.

To his attitude, Tina said, "There was no need to. We were able to defeat the Kraken because we had Beautiful Sword and Intense Thought. In fact, if you had been there, you would have been a hindrance, and we probably would have failed."

Tina spoke bluntly.

In response, Rodel's smile didn't waver. "There you go again, you're quite the joker. But that's just another thing that makes you beautiful and cute."

Rodel winked. Tina looked utterly disgusted.

Rodel's face twisted into a smirk. "By the way, I'd like to arrange the plans for our wedding."

He said something completely outrageous.

Meanwhile, Glad approached the sofa where Bardos and Leona were sitting.

Glad said, "It's been a long time, Leona-dono. I'm glad to see you're well."

Leona replied, "Glad-dono, it has been a while. You seem to be the same as ever. From the looks of it, dealing with him must be quite difficult, isn't it?"

Leona's gaze shifted to Rodel.

Glad understood. "Well, yes, I am just doing my duty. By the way, who is this gentleman?"

Glad looked at Bardos.

Leona said, "This is Bardos. He's an adventurer from Intense Thought, promoted to A-rank today. Bardos, this is Glad-dono, known as the Iron Wall. He's also an A-rank adventurer."

Leona introduced the two of them. Glad noticed that Leona's expression softened slightly when she looked at Bardos.

"A pleasure to meet you, Bardos-dono. I am Glad. Forgive my rudeness, but what is your relationship with Leona-dono?"

Glad's tone was tinged with jealousy.

Bardos, oblivious, replied, "? I spar with Leona often. We sometimes go together to look at weapon maintenance supplies and tools."

Bardos spoke as if there was nothing between them.

Hearing this, Glad looked at Leona. Her face was slightly red. From this, Glad understood. Leona was in love with him. Glad also had feelings for Leona and had been waiting for the right time to confess, but now a man had appeared out of nowhere and stolen her away. Glad's heart lost its usual composure.

In this tense atmosphere, there was one corner of the room occupied only by women.

Matilda was pestering Milfy.

"Milfy, don't get cocky just because you managed to defeat the Kraken. I'll definitely show you that I'm superior."

To Matilda's aggressive words, Milfy replied, "I'm not getting cocky. I don't think for a moment that I defeated it by myself. It was only possible with everyone's help."

To Milfy's model response, Matilda said, "H-Hmph. You can say that for now. Prepare yourself. Someday, I'll prove that I'm stronger than you. And when that happens, you'll fulfill the promise from that day... the promise to become mine."

Matilda whispered the last words.

Only Milfy, Rumily, and Marial heard them. The three of them had different expressions. Milfy looked disgusted, Rumily looked as if she were seeing an enemy, and Marial looked like a bystander.

As you can tell from this exchange, Matilda was attracted to women. She had known Milfy since they were just learning magic, and back then, they had been like close sisters. But at some point, Matilda began to want Milfy for herself and had challenged her to a duel. The result was Milfy's victory.

Matilda, unable to accept this, said, "Mark my words. Someday, when I become stronger than you and accomplish something amazing, you will become mine. And when that happens, I'll put a collar on you and cherish you by my side for the rest of your life!"

With those words, she left.

From there, through some process, she was requested by the guild to monitor Rodel and reluctantly began working as a member of Rodel the Flash. But she believed that if she became stronger and achieved great things through this, she could make Milfy her own. However, around this time, Milfy started dating Rumily. When Matilda found out, she appeared before the two of them.

"Milfy, how dare you date a woman like that when you have me! I won't allow it, absolutely not! Tomorrow, you will duel me. The place will be the meadow where we once fought. If I win, you will become mine. And Rumily! As punishment for touching what is mine, I will subject you to unspeakable humiliation in my family's basement! Prepare yourself!!"

With those words, she left.

Before they could even object, she had made up her mind. The two of them looked at each other and sighed. But Milfy could not allow Rumily to suffer such a terrible fate, and in the duel the next day, she emerged victorious.

Since then, Matilda had been pestering Milfy one way or another, in what looked to an outsider like a rivalry.

Incidentally, Marial was accompanying Rodel the Flash on orders from the church. In short, she was a spy. The upper echelons of the guild were aware of this. The church's thinking was that they couldn't let the Light-attribute user, Rodel, run wild.