Chapter Twelve

Part One

“It’s all over! The winner of the individual tournament is Tenma Otori!”

Blanca collapsed, and the referee’s voice echoed across the arena to announce my victory. The crowd immediately erupted into cheers. Over in the seats reserved for officials, all my supporters were celebrating, even Yoshitsune. Blanca wouldn’t get to see that since he’d already lost consciousness, but honestly, every time little Yoshitsune had cheered for me during the match, the pure anger that fueled Blanca would reignite. If he were to see him grinning now, Blanca probably would’ve jumped back up and attacked me regardless of whether the match was over.

I raised my hand and waved to the crowd, and then motioned to the staff to hurry and take Blanca away. That way, even if he came to, he wouldn’t see Yoshitsune’s happy face.

“Tenma, the finals for the pairs competition are in one hour. Will you be ready?” a ref asked.

“Oh yeah, I’ll be fine.”

This tournament had been an unusual one. Despite forfeiting in the pairs competition last time, we’d managed to advance without any trouble this time. That meant I was in the finals for all three divisions. I’d just cinched the individual tournament, but the schedule had all three finals matches taking place today, so I still had two more to go.

Gramps was my partner in the pairs competition again this year. He was even more fired up so he could avenge our forfeiture last year, when we had to drop out due to his bad back. Judging by how he’d been acting recently, I probably wouldn’t have to do much more than support him from the rear. But to be perfectly honest, our opponents weren’t really that strong. Gramps could crush them on his own.

“The real problem’s gonna be the team competition...”

Our opponents in the team final were all members of the king’s guard. Dean led a team comprising Jean, Edgar, Sigurd, and Kriss. When their participation was announced, people called them the most anticipated team in the tournament.

Their previous opponents—or, basically, the victims of this so-called Dream Team—hadn’t stood a chance. And I wouldn’t even mention the ones who’d faced them in the preliminaries. They’d gotten their butts kicked so badly that I wouldn’t have been surprised if the experience had left them with PTSD. Honestly, only a handful of knights who consistently trained in coordinated combat ever made it into the king’s guard, and these five were the best of the best.

Ordinary adventurers spent most of their time fighting monsters, so it wasn’t a surprise that they had lost without pulling off a single decent move.

Anyway, I was competing with Team Oracion again. We had our usual lineup of me, Gramps, Amur, Rocket, Shiromaru, and Solomon. In the semifinals, we’d faced Blanca and his team of the SAR’s toughest warriors, collectively known as “the Southern Elites.” Amur had taken quite a beating during that fight and had to drop out halfway through. Luckily, she hadn’t been seriously hurt—she was already fired up to get her revenge on Kriss in the finals.

Incidentally, Gramps and Blanca had suddenly started brawling with each other during the fight, and the rest of Blanca’s teammates had literally stopped fighting to watch in awe. The audience had been just as enthralled by their fistfight, so in the end, no one had bothered to complain.

As for how that slugfest had ended, Blanca had thrown a straight right just as Gramps had countered with a punch of his own. They had both gone down at the same time in a simultaneous KO. However, because Blanca was the leader of the Southern Elites, the entire team had lost automatically when he’d gone down.

Some people in the audience had immediately started shouting that the match had been rigged. But when the big shots from the SAR in the crowd began clapping and praising Gramps and Blanca for their performances, the majority of the crowd who’d loved the spectacle had followed suit. The criticism died down just as quickly as it had started.

About an hour had passed since the individual final, and the pairs competition had just ended as well.

“You were amazing out there, Gramps,” I said with a grin.

“Heh heh. I would’ve liked a bit more of a challenge, but it was a pretty entertaining match, huh? If they keep at it, they might even become regulars in the top ranks of the pair competition,” he said.

Our opponents in the pairs final had been a pair of young adventurers. Well, they were younger than Gramps, but older than me. This had been their first finals competition. The match had ended up as an overwhelming victory for us, or well, for Gramps alone, but despite the lopsided result, people seemed to think pretty highly of them.

Gramps had stayed on the front lines during the pairs match and fought both of them by himself. I honestly hadn’t had much to do. Still, just standing around had felt boring, so every time their support member tried to cast a spell, I nullified it. I’d figured I’d at least contribute a little bit. My support probably hadn’t made much difference for Gramps, though. But he was satisfied, and I’d saved my strength, so it was a win-win situation.

“Team Oracion, the team final will begin in one hour! Please make your preparations!” said the staff member who’d come to notify us. Once they left, we immediately started discussing strategies...but honestly, we were just deciding who would take on whom.

“So it’ll be me, Gramps, Amur, Shiromaru, and Rocket fighting in the finals,” I said.

“Squee?! Squee!” Solomon let out a drawn-out squawk that sounded a lot like What?! I’ve been in every match up until now!

“It’s simple—Rocket’s stronger. And if you go out there, Dean’ll target you. No question about that.”

Solomon dominating the skies had been a huge advantage in our previous matches, but that was because none of our opponents ever had any way of bringing him down. The king’s guard was different. Dean could knock Solomon out of the air with a single blow, and the rest of them were strong enough to keep us occupied.

We might’ve had an edge when it came to individual power, but in terms of coordination, it wasn’t even close. Trying to compare ourselves to them almost felt pathetic.

The most dangerous situation that could happen would be Solomon getting taken out early, leaving me surrounded by Dean and Jean. The second most dangerous situation would be Solomon down, Kriss holding Amur off, Gramps facing off against Edgar and Sigurd, and Jean moving in to fight Shiromaru while I was locked in with Dean. Then, whoever finished their match first—likely either Kriss, Jean, or both—would come after me from behind.

Now, I didn’t think Shiromaru would be incapacitated that easily, so the second scenario seemed much less likely. But both scenarios hinged on Solomon getting taken down, and that wasn’t a risk I was willing to take. So that’s why I wanted to substitute him out. Frankly, Rocket was our third-strongest member overall, and the only reason he hadn’t fought yet was because I’d been humoring Solomon.

Solomon kept squawking out complaints, but in the end, Rocket managed to talk some sense into him, and he agreed to the change.

“All right. Next, we need to figure out who’s gonna target who,” I said.

“I’m gonna crush Kriss!” Amur yelled.

“Okay, I guess Amur’s gonna take Kriss. Shiromaru, you take Jean. Your priority is to keep him from linking up with Dean. Just keep him busy; you don’t even have to force a win. Rocket, I’d like you to aim for Edgar and Sigurd, if possible. Gramps, if either of them slips past Rocket, you target them. And if everything looks clear, you and I will team up to go after Dean together,” I said. “But that’s just to start things off. Dean and the others know exactly how we fight, and they’re more capable of turning the situation around. If they pull out something unexpected, we’ll need to adapt on the fly.”

The king’s guard had the skills to beat us while also knowing our strengths and habits. They were also the most coordinated competitors in the entire tournament. By bringing Rocket in, I was hoping to not only boost our overall power but also have him help cover for the rest of us, since, well...we all tended to fend for ourselves.

Saying it all out loud made me feel a little pathetic, but honestly, there was no one in Oracion more dependable than Rocket. So if you wanted the right person—uh, I guess the right slime in the right place, he was your man. Er, slime.

Once we’d settled on our plan, everyone relaxed and spent the remaining period before the match however they liked.

And then it was time.

“This is the final match! Team Oracion versus the King’s Guard! Begin!”

The moment the match started...

“Arghh!” Amur went flying, courtesy of Dean.

They’d read our strategy, of course, and flipped the script on us completely. Amur wasn’t out of the fight since she’d managed to block the blow at the last second, but she’d still taken some heavy damage. While she recovered, Dean’s team seized the advantage now that we were down by one, and they all advanced on their chosen targets.

Kriss closed in on Shiromaru while Edgar went for Gramps. Sigurd stepped in front of Rocket and cut him off as Dean and Jean charged at me.

Their plan seemed to be working exactly as they intended. At least up until a certain point.

“What?! Damn it! Rocket!!!” Just before Jean hit full speed, charging at me alongside Dean, he suddenly lost his balance and almost fell over. One of Rocket’s tentacles was coiled around his ankle.

“I thought we’d outsmarted you, but you were the ones reading us!” Dean almost sounded amused as he swung his sword.

I shook my head. “Nah, you’re giving me too much credit. Honestly, you had me sweating bullets this whole time. This is all thanks to Rocket. Haah!”

I traded a few blows with Dean and then forced him back with a strike packed with all my strength to buy myself a little breathing room.

“That’s not really something you should brag about,” Dean said, looking exasperated. He then calmly reset his stance like nothing had happened.

“Hey, Rocket’s my follower. I’m allowed to be proud of him,” I said with a shrug.

“I won’t argue that, but if you rely on your followers too much, you’ll be the one getting laughed at!”

“By who?”

“By His Majesty! And by Prince Lyle and Princess Luna!”

The second he had listed those three names, I couldn’t help but agree. I could picture them all standing around, laughing their heads off, and the thought soured my mood in an instant.

“In that case, why don’t I let the king’s guard captain, who’s about to lose to me, take over that job instead?” I taunted.

“Not happening!” Dean yelled.

I was about to settle into a proper one-on-one fight with Dean when Sigurd came swinging at me from behind.

“Tch!” I said. “Knew it wouldn’t be that easy!”

I’d assumed Rocket was still keeping Sigurd busy. I blocked Sigurd’s blade and used the momentum to blast him away before glancing over to where Rocket was supposed to be.

“Damn, this is one helluva fight.” Jean was hacking away at Rocket, scattering chunks of his body all over the arena.

“Rocket’s a pain to deal with from a distance or up close, but slimes don’t have any real defense. He’s no exception to that,” Dean said flatly.

And he was right. Rocket had higher durability than an ordinary slime, but not even he could take Jean’s hits forever. However...

“Arghhh!”

“Gotcha, Vice-Captain!”

Amur had ambushed Jean from behind while he was still focused on Rocket. He’d noticed her closing in and tried to counter, but in the split second his attention had flicked over to Amur, some of Rocket’s scattered body parts had latched around his legs, locking him in place. Now that he was wide open, he took Amur’s explosive blow head-on and went limp.

“Well, Jean’s down. Guess that means we have almost no chance of winning now,” Dean muttered.

He was right. Losing Jean tipped the scales heavily in our favor.

Amur was still riding her momentum and charged at Kriss, who was just barely fending off Shiromaru. Sigurd tried to attack me again, but he got tangled up in Rocket’s re-formed tentacles. As for Edgar, he’d been battling Gramps, but he was now pinned face-down against the ground, totally immobilized.

“Well, Dean? How ’bout we finish this one-on-one?” I said with a grin.

“Aw, offering me a duel to settle things? You’re too kind, Tenma!”

“Here I coooome!” Amur yelled.

“Hey! Watch it, Amur!” Kriss yelped.

“I’ll just tag Gramps in if things get dicey, y’know,” I said.

“Well, that’s what a team battle’s supposed to be about, so I guess I can’t argue there,” Dean said.

“Take that!” Amur shouted.

“You spinning lunatic!” Kriss shrieked.

“In that case, if I get in trouble, I’ll just call Gramps and Rocket to jump in.”

“I’ll allow it, as long as you’re willing to shout, ‘Help! I can’t beat the great Dean on my own!’” Dean said, imitating my voice.

“Take this!” Amur grunted.

“Oof... If I weren’t already worn-out from Shiromaru, dodging you would be child’s play...” Kriss muttered.

“Shut up!” Amur screeched.

“Well, it’s not like we’re the only ones fighting out here,” Dean said with a sigh.

Listening to Amur and Kriss bicker drained all the energy out of both me and Dean. We weren’t doing anything against the rules, and judging by how loud the cheers were, the crowd loved it.

But honestly, this was all wrong. Dean and I were standing around chatting instead of fighting, Gramps was sitting cross-legged on Edgar’s back while he watched us, Rocket had pinned Sigurd down while fussing over Jean, and Shiromaru was sprawled out, yawning.

It definitely wasn’t normal to have the battlefield look like this, but somehow, no one in the audience seemed to care. If anything, it just got them more fired up. Maybe that meant it was both weird and normal at the same time?

“Well, no point in dwelling on it...” I muttered.

“Superattack! Flash Clap!” Amur screamed.

“Ha! Flash Clap Counter!” Kriss bellowed.

“Don’t let ’em get to ya, Tenma,” Dean said with a laugh. “It’s hard, but consider this part of your training.”

Everything that was going on had almost completely drained my motivation, but he was right. This was still training in its own way, so I forced myself to focus on our duel.

“Let’s go, Tenma!”

“Whenever you’re ready!”

And so Dean and I finally began our one-on-one match. This wasn’t like our usual practice bouts. This was the tournament final, and there was a sharp tension and thrill in the air that made me push harder—and slip up more often. We both tried out techniques we usually wouldn’t risk, and every tiny lapse almost turned into fatal mistakes.

But in the end...

Dean held up his hands. “I yield. You win.”

“Damn. Guess it all really comes down to a younger guy having more stamina, huh?” I said, flashing him a grin.

“You wish! It was just luck!”

It had been a close fight, but beating Dean in an even duel was still something that made me genuinely happy. Though I would’ve been happier if the two girls weren’t still brawling behind us.

“Will you just surrender already, Kriss?!”

“Don’t get cocky, Amur!”

I wanted to savor my moment of victory, but those two were still bickering like maniacs.

“Ref? Over here for a second.” Dean called the ref over and whispered something into his ear. The ref gave a slight nod in response.

Then, the ref turned to the field. “The winner is Oracion!” He had declared it just loud enough so Amur and Kriss wouldn’t hear.

Dean gestured to me. “C’mon, Tenma. Let’s slip out before they notice.”

“Sure. By the way, what did you tell the ref just now?” I asked him quietly as the rest of us quietly left the arena, leaving Amur and Kriss to keep trading blows.

“Oh, I just told him, ‘Those two clearly wanna still fight, so let them go at it as long as they want. Just don’t make a big fuss with the announcement,’” he said.

“You’re surprisingly kind, Dean,” I laughed.

“Right?”

I realized that slipping away without getting noticed was probably the least we could do to avoid ruining the little show those two were putting on for the crowd.

“You’re both demons. Both you and the captain,” Edgar said.

“It’s the girls’ fault for not noticing. But I won’t deny he’s a demon,” Gramps chuckled.

Edgar and Gramps seemed exasperated, but they accepted it in the end. Anyway, none of us said a word to Amur and Kriss—we all just followed Dean out of the arena. For the record, Jean still hadn’t regained consciousness by then, so Rocket was carrying him out.

“Hey, why did you leave us out there?!” Amur yelled.

“Yeah! Explain yourselves!” Kriss demanded.

Apparently, after we left, they had kept fighting for quite some time. When they had finally backed off to reset, they had noticed that the rest of us were long gone. Meanwhile, we had already been summoned by the king to give our reports and were now enjoying a little food and conversation. It was only at that point that the two of them stormed over and started demanding answers.

“C’mon. Any normal person would’ve figured it out without being told,” I said. That comment shut them right up, but I decided to really drive it home. “Besides, it was a team battle. You’re supposed to stay aware of everything going on around you, not just the opponent in front of you. You both would’ve been dead if someone had attacked from behind while you were at it. Well, maybe just Amur. But for you, Kriss, the worst outcome could’ve been the king getting assassinated.”

“What?!”

“And if that happened, you’d be lucky if you just lost your title and ended up as a slave. You could even be executed. And I’d probably get punished too, probably demoted or suspended,” Dean said.

“Don’t say that, Captain!”

Dean was obviously teasing her, but he wasn’t wrong either. Kriss had no counterargument.

And then...

“Kriss, I’ll buy you if you end up as a slave. But I’d work you to the bone in the SAR,” Amur said with a wicked grin on her face.

“Like hell you will!” Kriss shouted back furiously at her.

However, even the king sided with Amur. “That’s probably about what would happen!” He was trying not to laugh.

“Y-Your Majesty...” Kriss began. “Look, I’d understand losing everything or becoming a slave if I failed to protect you because I was slacking off, but can’t you let someone else buy me instead of her in case that happens? Like Tenma, maybe?” She shot a desperate look at me.

“Absolutely out of the question,” the king replied matter-of-factly. “Being Tenma’s slave would basically be a reward. Besides, anyone who would become enslaved for endangering the crown isn’t allowed to work for someone they’re close to. Everyone knows you and Tenma have a good relationship. On the other hand, the SAR is far from the capital. If we claimed that Lady Hana took you in on my orders and passed you to Amur as a gesture of gratitude for being your tournament opponent last year, no one would question it.”

“Th-That’s...”

Kriss looked like her entire world was crumbling before her eyes.

“So maybe don’t pull that kinda stunt when you’re actually on duty if you wanna avoid that,” Dean said with a pointed look.

Kriss stood up straight. “Yes, I swear I won’t! I’d rather die than become Amur’s slave!” she wailed.

Amur scoffed and looked a little disappointed, but honestly, I really hoped that Kriss would be more careful. I didn’t want to see any of my friends forced into slavery.

Not long after that, we got word that they were ready for the awards ceremony, so we all headed over to the arena together.

“Looks like you and Kriss managed to delay everything,” I muttered.

“I’m sorry, Tenma. I’ll have a word with her, as her future master!” Amur said.

“I am not your slave!” Kriss raised her voice.

Dean turned on her immediately since we were near the arena entrance. “Be quiet, Kriss! Do you plan on embarrassing yourself as a member of the king’s guard in front of everyone?!” he scolded.

“And you too, Amur,” Gramps added, although he didn’t chide her as harshly. “Jokes like that can cross a line if you’re not careful.”

“Well, that ceremony was pretty lively, compared to past years,” I commented afterward.

Dean nodded. “I think that was the most excited I’ve ever seen the crowd.”

“All thanks to Amur and Kriss,” Gramps chuckled.

Amur struck a triumphant pose. “Victory!”

“Will you please just stop talking about it?” Kriss whined.

Because the two of them had kept fighting right up to the end, the crowd had stayed fired up straight into the ceremony. It had easily been the most electric awards and closing event I’d ever seen. The audience had kept chanting for Amur and Kriss, even while names had been called. Every time Amur had waved to them, they had roared. Kriss had just stood there, staring at her feet in mortified silence.

A royal banquet was held about a week after the tournament.

“Every time it looks like Kriss’s moment has come, it seems like all her luck runs out,” I said.

“That’s true,” Gramps replied, agreeing.

“It’s actually kinda sad,” Blanca said. “Should we go and drag her back here?”

“That’s impossible, Blanca,” Dean said. “Kriss volunteered for an assignment outside the capital and left at dawn this morning.”

She’d been invited to attend the banquet as a guest, like we had. But, apparently, she had been so humiliated at the awards ceremony that she’d decided to disappear instead of risk being teased again. She’d turned down the invitation and signed up for a mission to get out of town. The rest of the royal guard was here, though. Dean had the day off too, so he’d joined us at our table.

“Tenma, there was another guy just now asking about Kriss.”

Predictably, Kriss had somehow become the center of attention among the men at the party. A lot of them said they admired how she’d fought Amur, or mentioned that they thought she’d looked cute being embarrassed at the ceremony. Several of them had tried to talk to her over the past week, but she had thought they’d been teasing her. She’d run away.

“They’re all idiots with no taste,” Amur grumbled.

Amur had been amused that Kriss ran away before the party, but she seemed quite irritated now that the runaway was the main topic of conversation. Every time she went to grab something to eat, someone would corner her to ask about Kriss, probably assuming that the two of them were still partners.

“I’ll get your next plate,” Blanca said to her. “Nobody has the guts to bother me.”

“Blanca, if you don’t shine in situations like this with a face like yours, then I don’t know when— Ow!” Amur ended up taking her irritation out on him, even though he was just trying to be considerate. He responded by bonking her on the head in full view of everyone.

“What’s all the commotion over there?” I asked.

“The king must be on his way. What’s going on? Ohhh, that’s gonna be entertaining,” Dean said, his eyes lighting up.

One of the royal guard members had come over and whispered something to him. Dean chuckled, and I could tell something was up.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“I’m curious too,” Gramps chimed in. “You always smile like that when something troublesome has happened...or is about to.”

“Well, I won’t deny that, but the king will tell you himself soon enough,” Dean said. “He’d sulk if I spoiled it now.”

I could definitely picture the king getting petulant, ranting about it, and then getting scolded by Queen Maria. I kept my mouth shut and decided to wait.

Finally, the king stood before everyone and made his announcement.

“I’m so glad to see everyone is enjoying themselves. However, before I join you in the revelry, I have some important news to share. A report has just come in that the Dawnswords, regulars of the tournament but who were absent this time, have completed their conquest of the dungeon in Sagan.”

Our tournament accomplishments paled in comparison to that.

The moment the king made this announcement, the nobles’ conversation turned to talk of Jin and the rest of the Dawnswords. Amur seemed to be in a better mood now that people had stopped bringing up Kriss. She grabbed a fresh plate and skipped off for seconds.

“This is gonna kick up a lotta noise,” I said.

“True. But I’m sure Jin and his group can handle it. In the meantime, at least we’ll get some peace,” Gramps said.

Oracion was seen as having the royal family’s backing, even though Amur technically belonged to Lady Hana’s house, as people still treated her like she was part of my family. Because of that and the fact that the Otori family’s strength and influence had become common knowledge over the past few years, we didn’t get dragged into nearly as many annoying incidents as we used to. Still, there were always people lurking around for their chance to do something.

All kinds of weirdos would crawl out of the woodwork after a tournament win. People would claim they were distant relatives of my parents and had once done them a favor, and a bunch of idiots would try to pull some scams based on that. Whenever someone like that showed up, I had Queen Maria and the king verify whether they were legit. Nine times out of ten, those two would know anyone who was actually a friend of my parents. And whenever I did agree to meet with those “distant relatives,” the king, queen, and Gramps were always present.

“Tenma! Why don’t you come over here for a bit?” Leon called out to me from outside while I was chatting with Gramps and the others about the Dawnswords.

A noble calling out to a tournament winner like this would’ve earned some dirty looks. But once everyone realized it was just me and Leon, the nobles and competitors who’d been eyeing us suspiciously went back to their own conversations like it was nothing.

“Coming!” I called back and started walking towards him.

“Make sure you bring me back something tasty!” Amur said.

Amur fell in step beside me, acting all cocky. But no one thought anything of it, not even Leon. He puffed out his chest proudly and said, “I already did!”

“We can always get the best spot with the three of them around,” I said.

“Yeah, they’re so useful!” Amur said.

“Don’t say that! You’re gonna make me blush.”

“I don’t think she was actually praising you.”

“Yeah, I think Amur was mocking you a little. You know, her usual.”

“Well, that’s fair when it comes to Leon,” Eliza said.

“Don’t you think that’s going a bit too far?” Leon asked.

“Can you tone it down just a bit, dear sister-in-law?” Primera said.

Leon led us to the terrace outside the banquet hall. The other nobles were keeping their distance from us and just watching from afar since Albert and Cain were there.

“Hm? There’s Pigtails, Primera...and who’s that?”

“I’ve told you a thousand times to stop calling me that! Now you’re just doing it on purpose!”

“Huh? Would you rather me call you Double Whirly Whirls?” asked Amur.

“What is that ridiculous name supposed to be?! No one in the whole world would call themselves that!” Eliza huffed.

“Oh, my mistake. Twirly von Twintails.”

“No!”

“Will you two knock it off already? We’re getting nowhere here,” Primera said. She sighed, stepping to stop Amur and Twirly von—er, I mean, Eliza—before things could escalate further.

However, there was a woman standing next to her who looked vaguely familiar, and she was staring wide-eyed at Amur and Eliza.

“Right... Maybe we should start by introducing the person Tenma and Amur haven’t met yet,” Cain said smoothly, redirecting the conversation before the arguments could start up again.

“I’m Ciara von Aybrick, the second daughter of Count Aybrick. Please, just call me Ciara,” she said.

I thought she had looked familiar. I’d seen her around the castle library and the city library too. We’d only ever exchanged brief nods before, so this was the first time I’d heard her voice.

Amur gave Ciara’s chest a long, appraising stare. “Hmm... Eh, just barely an ally,” she blurted out. Ciara looked alarmed, like something ominous had just happened, and she ducked behind Primera.

Later on, Cain mentioned that Ciara’s chest was about average, but definitely bigger than Kriss’s. I had no idea how to respond to that. I wished he’d just kept that kind of commentary about his own fiancée to himself. I mean, seriously—just don’t.

“Anyway, betting on Tenma doesn’t even pay out anymore,” Albert said, heaving a sigh.

“Yeah. The odds are basically even money now. Everyone feels like they’re losing out if they don’t bet, so they all pile it on. I’ve got a friend working under Prince Zane, and he was grumbling that the bookies haven’t turned a decent profit in years. He said they’re getting desperate enough to consider running bets on second and third places too, along with the exact orders.”

Ah, like horse racing. Win, place, and trifectas. But unlike my previous life, this world didn’t have computers to tally everything up. All the calculations were done by hand, so even though it was a good idea, actually implementing it would be a nightmare.

“The fastest fix would be for the king to just ask Tenma to stop entering,” Albert said. “But the backlash from the citizens would be too much.”

“Why not just make Tenma a legacy champion or something?” Leon suggested. “Instead of competing, he could fight the winner in an exhibition match.”

Albert shook his head. “That won’t work either. The legacy champion thing is fine, but if we expect Tenma to fight the winner, he’d have to stick around for the entire tournament. How much would we have to pay an adventurer of his level tied up that long? Don’t forget that Tenma isn’t a knight or a member of the king’s guard. He’s an adventurer. Telling him he can’t participate is basically the crown taking away his freedom. The reformists would have a field day with that.”

Even though their numbers had dwindled compared to before, the reformists were still the second-largest faction. They’d jump at any chance to cause trouble.

“I mean, if someone asked me not to participate, I wouldn’t mind,” I said.

“Even if you don’t, the public will,” Albert said. “And if the reformists start saying the king was behind it, people’d believe that no matter how much you and the king deny it.”

That was the real problem. No matter how we tried to explain the situation, everyone knew how close I was to the royal family. They’d always wonder if some kind of secret deal had been made.

“I really don’t want to get dragged into this mess, but I can already see the king coming to ask about it... Ugh, this is such a headache. Maybe I should just go spend some time down south,” I muttered.

“Yeah, that’s your best option. You know you’re welcome anytime,” Amur said.

Sure, the SAR had its own brand of chaos, but it was mostly the loud, meathead variety, not the political kind. It was the sort of place where people treated you well as long as you had proven that you were strong. It was also far from the capital, so it was the perfect place to get away from all this nonsense.

Just as I was seriously considering escaping...

“That would be a problem. I’d prefer you wait until we finish discussing next year’s tournament.”

The king had appeared from out of nowhere, with Prince Caesar and Prince Zane in tow.

Oh yeah, this really was gonna be trouble.

“You all seemed to be having quite an interesting chat. What were you discussing?” he asked, looking from Albert to the others.

He clearly wasn’t going to bother asking me—he expected the three noble idiots to spill everything. And sure enough, they immediately started explaining exactly what we’d been talking about.

The king groaned. “I see. So you all feel the same... Honestly, what a pain.”

“Your Majesty,” Prince Zane cut in sternly, “this is more than ‘just a pain.’ You should be treating this more seriously.”

The king made a face like this was the last thing he wanted to deal with. “Hrm, yes, yes... I suppose even if it’s a hassle, it’s still a problem that needs solving.” He turned to me. “Well, Tenma? What do you think we should do?”

“I have no idea,” I replied. “Please don’t dump this on me. Talk it over with Prince Caesar and the others first before asking me.”

“That’s reasonable, but you realize that if we come to you only after we’ve made a decision, it would already be final and therefore a royal order. We’d rather avoid that kind of situation, which is why we want you involved from the beginning,” Prince Caesar said. “I hope you understand.”

His polite, inescapable logic left me with no way out.

“You know, Prince Caesar, maybe you should just take the throne already,” I muttered.

“I’m starting to agree,” the king sighed.

But...

“I’m afraid His Majesty is still far too...lively to step down anytime soon,” Caesar said evenly.

He probably figured if the king abdicated while he was still young, he’d run around doing whatever he liked, which would just cause more trouble. Honestly, I thought so too.

I also had a bad feeling I’d be the one cleaning up his messes if that ended up being the case. So yeah, maybe it would be better if he waited until the king had mellowed out a little. Or a lot. Because if that day ever came, at least Queen Maria would be able to slap a collar on him.

“As Caesar mentioned, I’d like to speak to you about the future, Tenma,” the king said. “I’d appreciate it if you could hold off on leaving the capital until we’ve had that conversation.”

“Ugh... All right,” I said with a sigh.

Once the king had gotten a clear answer out of me, he muttered something about not being able to relax here any longer and made his exit.

“I swear, every time the king shows up acting all regal like he’s actually a king, I just know it’s gonna be trouble,” I grumbled.

“Don’t you think that’s a bit disrespectful, Tenma?”

“Maybe, but it’s not like I’m one of his vassals or something. It’s not like he’s asking me for help. I don’t feel the same level of loyalty to the king as Albert and the others who sold me out do,” I said, half joking and half serious.

“H-Hey, I’m sorry about that, but you shouldn’t blame Albert. Right, guys?” Leon said, although there was a good chance he wasn’t joking.

Cain seemed to agree. “Yeah! I mean, Albert didn’t have bad intentions. Or at least...I don’t think he did... Right?”

“Albert, climbing the ranks by selling out a friend. Hey, I made a haiku!” Amur said.

Um, that’s not a haiku at all, Amur...

Albert, betrayed by Cain and Leon, turned desperately to the girls for backup. “Wait, hold on! That’s not what I meant at all! Eliza! Primera!”

However...

“Tenma’s not exactly wrong,” Eliza said.

“Yeah, even if his phrasing was a bit harsh, Tenma’s perspective is pretty understandable. And from the outside looking in, what Amur said seems reasonable too,” Primera added.

Neither of them said I was wrong, and they didn’t back Albert up at all. Ciara didn’t speak up to defend him either—she just smiled awkwardly the entire time.

“Anyway, putting the issue with Albert aside, we’ve got some time before the dancing begins. So, how about we eat first? Not that I really needed to suggest that to everyone...”

While Primera and the others were busy humiliating Albert, Amur, Leon, and I had already started helping ourselves to the food and drinks that Albert had prepared.

“So, Tenma, who are you dancing with first this year?” Cain asked. “It was Lady Hana last year, and Amur before that, right? And three years ago, it was Queen Maria.”

I asked him how in the world he remembered all that, and he said, “It goes to show how much attention you attract.” It seemed like he wasn’t the only one who’d remembered that sort of thing.

“It’s not like I have to dance, but now I feel this weird pressure...” I muttered.

Four years ago, there had been that whole kidnapping mess with Jeanne and Aura, so the party had been canceled before the dancing had even started. The following year, it had gone ahead as planned, and Queen Maria had ended up dragging me onto the dance floor. After our dance, I stuck around chatting with her and the king, so no one else dared ask me.

During the party two years ago, I had announced I’d only dance with people I knew or with tournament winners, and Amur had dragged me off mid-sentence. And then last year, Lady Hana had snatched me away just for laughs because she’d heard that story from Amur.

Thanks to my announcement about dance partners, I’d managed to avoid dancing with random people. I didn’t know that many noblewomen to begin with, so the crowd of people I might dance with had remained the same. This year, the only women among tournament winners were Amur and Kriss, so I could just skip the dance entirely if they already had partners.

At least, that’s what I had thought until I realized there were actually two people right here whom I hadn’t danced with yet. Now, neither of them seemed like the type to jump at the chance, but I figured I’d at least ask them. And if they turned me down, then that’d be that, and I’d skip the dance this year.

“Well then, Lady Primera, may I have the first dance?” I asked.

I decided to pick Primera because she was the one closest to me. I thought she might be the type to be shy and say no, but if she did, it’d end up being a funny story about how I got turned down by a friend.

Except...

“Sure! I’d love to!”

She immediately agreed to dance. I hadn’t expected that, but hey, finding a partner so quickly was a win in my book. However, when I tried inviting Ciara to dance afterward, she gave me a cold stare and turned me down for some reason. The rest of our group, other than Amur and Leon, gave me sympathetic looks—maybe I’d made some kind of faux pas.

“Tenma, I’m next!” Amur immediately called dibs on the second dance, but...

I shut her down. “Sorry. I decided that today, I’m only dancing with people I’ve never danced with before.”

“Grr...”

That didn’t seem to satisfy her, and I was wondering what to say next, but Cain and Eliza stepped in and smoothed things over for me. I appreciated the help, but the fact that those two had been so in sync gave me a bad feeling. They were definitely up to something.

“All right, looks like we’re cutting it close on time. Let’s head over to the hall,” Cain suggested.

We all started moving towards the venue in pairs, but then...

“Hang on! I don’t have a partner!” Leon shouted.

“I’ll... No, if I can’t dance with Tenma, I don’t wanna dance with anybody. Good luck, Leon.” Amur had started to respond to Leon, but she must’ve remembered that I said I wasn’t dancing with her today, as she completely lost interest mid-sentence.

“Leon, didn’t your first dance partner have to leave for etiquette training to be your potential fiancée?”

“Yeah, and it’d be a bad look to ask someone else. Same old story!”

Every year, Leon would struggle to find a partner. He usually ended up asking some noblewoman from the margravate, but most of the time, he’d end up dancing with either a widow or an older lady. Leon hardly ever got the chance to dance with someone his own age.

Even Primera wasn’t interested. “Dancing with Leon is kinda, you know...” That really said a lot.

According to Albert, Leon wasn’t lacking in skill. However, he had learned everything the wrong way and had never gotten the chance to fix it. So, unless his partner was really good at dancing, it was hard to dance with him. That’s why his dancing was just about as good as mine four years ago.

Just to be clear, I was talking about my skills four years ago. I was way better now. Now, I wasn’t amazing or anything these days, but I had at least improved a little. It wasn’t so much that I could make fun of Leon, though.

“All right, it’s time,” Cain said. “Let’s leave Leon alone and go dance.”

“Yeah, you’re right. We don’t want to spend so much time worrying about him that we end up not dancing ourselves,” Albert agreed.

Just like they said, it would be unheard of for the heirs of the major royalist noble houses to skip the dance. We ignored Leon, who’d run off to go find a partner, and began making our way towards the ballroom.

The dance floor was set up in the center of the venue and was already packed with couples vying for the best spots. But as soon as Albert and Eliza showed up, along with Cain and Ciara shortly after, the crowd quickly parted to let them through, so they had no trouble getting into the center of the dance floor.

On the other hand, Primera and I had agreed to be as inconspicuous as possible, so we stayed at the edge of the dance floor. But then, Eliza suddenly grabbed Primera by the arm and pulled her along. And, naturally, we got dragged right into the most conspicuous spot near Albert and the others.

“Oh, Tenma! You’re here too.”

The king and Queen Maria were standing near the center, along with Prince Caesar and Princess Isabella. The area was quickly filling up with high-ranking nobles, and I was the only commoner in the room. I felt completely out of place.

“Hey, Primera, how about we sneak back to the edge?” I whispered.

She nodded back at me. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

Only someone who was either extremely confident in their skills or completely clueless would try to dance in a place like this. We were just about to slip away, but someone stopped us.

“There’s no need to move,” the king said.

“You’re a guest of the royal family, Tenma. And your partner is Duke Sanga’s daughter. No one is going to have a problem,” Prince Caesar said.

Both of them had their hands on my shoulders to stop me from escaping.

“Primera, you’ve come this far. You might as well face it head-on,” Queen Maria said.

Isabella agreed with her. “Running away now would be a disgrace to the Sanga family name.”

Similarly, the two women blocked Primera’s retreat. We were both being cornered by a pair of royals, so we had no choice but to return to the center of the dance floor. We resigned ourselves to dancing quietly near Albert and the others so we’d draw as little attention as possible.

“Welcome back, Tenma. Not even you can escape those two, huh?” Albert said. He sounded exasperated.

“Primera, I knew you weren’t going anywhere once you got this far anyway,” Cain teased.

Well, they were probably right. Even in noble circles, it would’ve looked pathetic or even disgraceful to try to bail at this point.

“Oh, that’s rich, coming from the guys who dragged us here in the first place,” I grumbled.

I wasn’t a noble, so I didn’t really care about appearances. Primera had already said she planned to give up her noble status eventually, so it didn’t matter that much to her either. Sure, bringing up the Sanga family put things into a different light, but even if she had tried to bail, I figured her father would’ve just laughed it off.

But when I said that, they dropped the topic immediately.

“Oh, look! Tenma, it’s about to start!”

“Yeah! You two should probably get ready.”

“Seriously, those two... Oh, well. There’s no point in whining about it. Let’s just get into position,” I said.

“Okay,” Primera said with a nod.

And so the dance began. I thought, well—I hoped—that we got through it without embarrassing ourselves too badly. Sure, I made a couple of minor mistakes, but at least I avoided any major disasters.

After Primera and I were done dancing, we headed over to a table where Gramps and Archduke Ernest were lounging around.

“I’m beat...” I said. “At this point, I’d rather do another round of the solo competition in the tournament than go through that again! Nice work, Primera.”

“You too, Tenma. But seriously, that’s not a normal way to think...” she said.

“Well, she’s not wrong.”

“Yeah, but this is Tenma we’re talking about. I mean, I’d rather fight than dance too,” Gramps said.

“It’s no wonder he turned out this way with a grandpa like you.”

Originally, I was only going to dance to one song and then peace out. But after that first number, Queen Maria caught me, and then Princess Isabella, Eliza, and Ciara all asked for dances too. I even danced with Primera again.

Since dancing to six songs in a row wasn’t part of the plan, I was so exhausted that I snuck off the dance floor entirely. Still, some nobles kept trying to ask me to dance, so I fled to the one place I figured no one would bother me—the place where the highest-ranking idle person in the venue was.

Naturally, Primera came with me too. She’d danced with the king and Prince Caesar while I was busy, and she looked totally drained as a result. Still, it seemed like spending time with the royals had toughened her up a little, because she followed me over to the table without a word.

“That first dance was awful,” Ernest said. “But you got better as you went along. You almost looked like a different person during the last song! Well, it wasn’t a huge improvement overall; it’s more like you went from beginner to intermediate.”

His delivery was a little harsh, but I decided to take it as praise.

“I agree. Compared to the first one, the second dance felt much better,” Primera said.

“Well, we had some good examples to follow,” I said.

I meant Prince Caesar, Albert, Cain...a bunch of the nobles, really. The king was good too, but technically, he came off like a weaker version of Prince Caesar, so I hadn’t used him as a reference. Queen Maria and Princess Isabella also led in a way that made it easy for me to follow, which helped a lot.

“I’d probably get better if I kept doing this, but I’m not really into dancing. Just getting through it is enough for me. But, Primera, you were really good, though. Guess that’s what happens when you’re born into a ducal house.”

“Well, dancing is basically a required skill for nobles. Although personally I prefer moving my body in other ways,” she said.

“That makes sense. No wonder you and Tenma make such a good pair,” Ernest said, teasing.

“Stop being a know-it-all!” Gramps said.

I decided to ignore Ernest because responding would only encourage him further. Primera looked like she was about to say something too, but Gramps jumped in and monopolized the moment.

“Tenma, got a minute?”

“Prince Lyle, where have you been this whole time?” I asked.

He had apparently slipped in unnoticed and was speaking in an unusually quiet voice.

“I’ve got a favor to ask,” Prince Lyle began. “It’s about the Dawnswords, the ones everyone’s been talking about. They’ll be summoned to the capital soon, and there’s already been political squabbling about which noble family gets to host them. Ideally, we’d just have them stay at the castle or somewhere under direct royal authority, but since the royal family is already said to be backing Oracion, that might not be a good idea...”

“So, basically, you want the Otoris to look after Jin and the others?” I said.

“Yep, you got it.”

Since the royals were already seen as backing us, Prince Lyle figured it’d look poor for them to openly claim the Dawnswords too. But at the same time, the dungeon they had conquered was under direct royal control in Sagan, so the idea of handing them over to some other noble faction was also unacceptable. Letting the Dawnswords stay with me, a person they already knew, would send a subtle message that the group was aligned with the royalists.

“I don’t mind as long as Jin and the others are okay with it,” I replied. “But if I explain it all to them and they say no, I don’t want to be asked again, okay?”

“Of course. I appreciate it.”

And with that, Prince Lyle quietly slipped away.

“Just when I thought I might be free of all this political crap,” I muttered to myself. “Oh well, here we go again. Figures...”

“Hmph. Having Jin and the others stay with us might give a few new people a grudge against us, but the only ones who’d really get upset are nobles who oppose the royalists. It’s not like it’d change anything,” Gramps reasoned.

“Yeah, it’s not like we’d be gaining more enemies. It’ll just make the ones we already have hate us more.”

If Jin and the others came to stay with us, royalist nobles might still see it as a loss that comes with indirect benefits. But nobles aligned with the reformists would consider this as the deck being stacked against them even more, so yeah...they’d probably resent me even more. Not that it mattered, of course. They already hated me.

“Anyway, it’s really just up to what Jin and the others want to do,” I said.

“That’s true. But knowing them, they’d rather avoid the hassle. I’d say it’s almost guaranteed that they’ll end up staying with us,” Gramps said.

Thanks to the Dawnswords, it looked like things were about to get complicated. I didn’t realize it at the time, but this little party would be just the beginning. The real mess would start because of my own thoughtlessness.

Part Two

“Tenma! We’ll be staying with you for a while!” Jin said.

“Yeah, yeah. Jeanne? Aura? Can you show Jin and the others to their rooms?”

A few days after the party, the Dawnswords arrived in the capital and moved into the Otori estate. I’d sent them a letter ahead of time, laying out the situation in the capital and leaving the decision up to them, but they sent a response back right away through Ted that they accepted my offer.

The thing was...I had another problem brewing, and it was even more annoying than the arrival of the Dawnswords.

“Before we get settled, though, is it true? Are you and Primera engaged?”

I’d expected the whole capital to be buzzing about Jin’s party and their dungeon conquest, but apparently, the real hot topic was whether Primera and I had gotten engaged since we had danced together at the party.

She was a high-ranking noble’s daughter, and I was an undefeated Rank S adventurer. We’d known each other since I had first started out, and I had a close relationship with her family. Her brother and I were basically best friends. And on top of that, there had already been rumors about us being romantically involved floating around, so once people had seen us dance, they’d decided that this time, it must’ve been for real.

“It’s just a rumor, but yeah... This one’s on me. I owe Primera and Duke Sanga an apology,” I admitted.

I had screwed up by choosing an unmarried woman as my dance partner. And the fact that it’d been the first dance had made matters even worse.

“The first dance is usually reserved for someone you’re serious about,” Jin commented.

The opening number at noble parties was typically reserved for your spouse, betrothed, or lover. By asking Primera to dance first, I had basically told the whole capital that I wanted to be with her. And by dancing with me, she’d “accepted.” That’s how everyone else saw it.

“Wait, then why didn’t anyone freak out when I danced with Amur that time?” I asked.

So far, my first dance partners had been Queen Maria, Amur, and Lady Hana. Queen Maria and Lady Hana were both married, and everyone knew where I stood with them, so no one had suspected anything romantic going on there.

But Amur was unmarried and technically a noble now, so why hadn’t anyone made a fuss about her?

“Maybe they just thought it was a teammate filling in? Neither of you had a partner,” Leena suggested.

I thought about that. “Yeah, I guess it did just look like business as usual... Our dancing was sloppy too.”

Amur was always hovering around me. Our dancing had been pretty rough that time, and we’d stayed out of the spotlight too. So other than folks talking about how bad it’d been, we hadn’t drawn much attention.

And when I had danced with Queen Maria, the skill gap between us had been so huge that I could barely stay on my feet. As for Lady Hana, she had danced like she was doing a samba in a room full of waltzes, so that’d been another survival situation.

“Anyway, just don’t do anything that’ll make Primera cry, okay?” Leena was giving me a stern warning.

Aura then began to show everyone to their rooms, but not before Jin and Galatt started teasing me more.

“Must be tough being so popular, huh?” Jin asked.

“Yeah. I’m jealous of you, always being surrounded by beautiful women,” Galatt said.

“Aura, take Jin and Galatt to Jubei’s barn. I’m sure he’ll let them have at least a tiny corner. If not, just toss them in the storage room,” I said. “And Jeanne, take Mennas and Leena to the guest rooms like we planned.”

“Got it!” Aura replied with way too much enthusiasm.

Jin and Galatt immediately panicked, while Mennas and Leena passed them with calm smiles and followed Jeanne.

I messed around with Jin and Galatt a bit more and eventually gave Aura the go-ahead to take them to their real rooms.

Now that the Dawnswords were getting settled in, I suddenly had nothing to do. I decided to head to the kitchen and whip up a ton of snacks. However, on my way there, I found Kriss drinking herself stupid despite it being the middle of the day.

She’d come back the day after the party only to find out that she’d apparently been very popular among the male nobles. However, that “popularity” had only lasted about half an hour.

“Tenma, what’s the point of my life, anyway?” she asked me.

Oh, great. I’ve walked right into a wallowing session...

If I had only noticed her earlier, I could’ve bolted before she saw me. Since I’d been lost in thought, she had caught me before I could escape.

I tossed out a vague, noncommittal reply. “Beats me. But everyone is valuable in their own way. I don’t have all the answers.” After that, I immediately ducked into the kitchen.

As I was getting ready to make snacks, I heard shouting.

“Jeanne! Move!”

“Don’t push me, Aura! Wait! Huh?”

Jeanne and Aura burst through the door seconds later, looking flustered. I had a feeling they’d also been trying to flee from Kriss.

“If you two have something to do in here, I can get out of the way,” I said. I didn’t mind letting them take over if they had work to do.

“No, we didn’t come in here to do anything in particular...”

Seeing how awkward Jeanne looked just confirmed my suspicions. They were also running from Kriss.

“Then how about giving me a hand?” Now that I knew they were free, they could help me prepare snacks.

“Sure!”

“We’d love to!”

Judging by how quickly they agreed, they were very happy to have an excuse to avoid going back out there.

“I’m low on snacks for my magic bag, so today’s about volume. Aura, Jeanne, you’re on baked goods duty, mainly cookies. I’ll handle the pancakes. Any questions?”

Amur suddenly came in out of nowhere. “Got it! I’ll be in charge of taste testing!”

“I’ll join the baking team,” Leni said as she popped in behind her.

“Leni, I’m gonna need you to go keep Kriss company instead. And sorry, Amur, but we’re not recruiting taste testers at the moment. You can help out, though.”

“Okay...” Amur said. She looked unsure but agreed anyway. Snacks were a strong motivator.

Leni gave me a polite smile as she turned me down. “I’ll have to pass. I came to the capital to be Lady Amur’s attendant, after all.”

Fair—her job was to take care of Amur and gather intel, not babysit a drunk.

I gave in. “All right, then. Jeanne and Aura, you’re in charge of baked goods that aren’t cookies. Amur and Leni, you’ll be on cookie duty. I’ll do the pancakes. Now let’s get started.”

I paired Amur and Leni and assigned them to the relatively simple job of making cookies, which seemed like the safest bet since Amur wasn’t exactly confident in the kitchen. Jeanne and Aura had more experience, so they got stuck with the rest of the baked goods, which would be a bit of a challenge.

“It’s times like these that I’m glad this kitchen is so huge,” I said to myself.

Gramps’s mansion had been built by the king, but I couldn’t be sure whether he had made the kitchen this spacious just for us to use or because the people from Kukuri Village sometimes stayed over. Either way, the dining room and kitchen were massive compared to the general size of the house. Thanks to that, three groups could work in here at the same time without getting in each other’s way.

“This feels less like I’m making pancakes and more like I’m grilling dorayaki halves,” I said.

I lined up small circles of batter on the big griddle, and a few ended up darker than I wanted. The ones that ended up a deep golden-brown hue looked more like dorayaki than actual pancakes.

“I’ll set aside the darker ones and stuff them with sweet bean paste or cream.”

We had some azuki beans from the SAR on hand. If I simmered them down enough, I could probably make something close to sweet bean paste. I’d never made that properly before, but I’d previously cooked sweet red bean soup, so I figured starting there and thickening it up would work.

Once I had enough dorayaki-style shells, I lowered the heat and started mass-producing regular pancakes.

That was when it happened.

“Tenma, how do you really feel about me?”

Kriss had drifted into the kitchen like some kind of ghost.

“Well, you’re...Kriss.”

“That’s not an answer!” she yelled back.

She was coming at me with a different vibe than usual, and I was already over it. Then I sensed someone else entering the room. Three someones, to be exact. Since the one leading the pack was Albert, I assumed it must’ve been the noble idiots.

“Helloooo? Tenma? Are you listening? Who do you think would make a better wife—me or Primera?”

Oh great, I let my guard down for two seconds, and Kriss has already taken this conversation off the rails.

“In that case, Primera,” I said. “She doesn’t get drunk and act all clingy like you do.”

Granted, Primera usually passed out before she got to that stage, but for some people, that’d be a plus.

“Th-Then what about as a mom?! Who do you think would...”

“Primera. I can’t exactly say a woman who gets hammered in broad daylight is the best role model for a kid.”

“Argh!”

That one had clearly stung. Now, that wasn’t to say someone who drank couldn’t raise a kid, but staggering around and harassing people wasn’t a great look.

“Th-Then how...”

I didn’t even know what she was going to say next, but honestly, it didn’t even matter. “Still going with Primera,” I said. “And Kriss, you’re in the way. Go back to the dining room.”

“Okay...” she mumbled back and shuffled off into the other room.

Now that she was gone, I got back to business flipping pancakes.

“All right, that should be enough,” I said after a while.

I had made a ridiculous amount of batter and now had about a hundred pancakes around ten centimeters in diameter. I also had another fifty suitable for dorayaki. Unfortunately, another fifty or so ended up being too misshapen or burnt, so those went into the “taste testing” pile—also known as treats for Amur and my followers.

Not long after I finished, Jeanne and the others wrapped up their own work. We sampled the failed ones first and stored the rest in my magic bag.

“All right, time to dig in. But wait... Leni, what happened to Amur?”

Amur was being unusually quiet, even with a mountain of cookies sitting right in front of her. She wasn’t answering anyone—she wouldn’t even open her mouth.

“Well, she wolfed down a bunch of fresh cookies and burned her mouth.”

I sighed. “Amur. Look at me. Open your mouth. Aqua Heal!”

Yeah, it was the usual. She’d gotten greedy, scorched the inside of her mouth with piping hot cookies, and been rendered speechless ever since.

Once the spell kicked in, Amur was back to her normal, loud self. She started ranting dramatically about cookie-related dangers. “I thought I was gonna die! Hot cookies are weapons!”

“Albert, sorry to keep you waiting. Cain and Leon, you guys can dig in too... Huh?”

I glanced over and was about to call Cain and Leon to the snack table, only to realize they weren’t there. Instead, Duke Sanga and Primera were sitting there with Albert.

“Who exactly did you mistake me for just now, Tenma?” Duke Sanga asked, clearly amused.

I couldn’t exactly say I’d confused him for Leon. Truthfully, I hadn’t even looked. I was just so used to Albert always being with those two that I’d made an automatic assumption.

“I didn’t mistake you for anyone,” I said. “It’s just that when Albert shows up, it’s practically a guarantee that Cain and Leon are with him. Although now I guess it’s more like a ninety-nine percent guarantee. I’ll be more careful going forward.”

The duke laughed at my explanation. “Ah, I see. That’s perfectly reasonable. Honestly, you could say it’s their fault for hanging around here so often.”

Meanwhile, Albert looked like he’d just been told off for coming over too much. He smiled sheepishly.

“So, Duke Sanga. What brings you here today? Wait, where’s Primera?”

Primera had her head face down in her arms on the table, refusing to look in my direction. Funnily enough, that was the exact same pose Kriss had been in...but I hoped for a different reason. After all, Kriss had been passed out drunk. Primera was... Well, I didn’t know.

“You really aren’t aware?” Duke Sanga asked, his tone pointed.

“Tenma, we heard everything. That whole conversation you had with Kriss carried right into the dining room.”

“Kriss? Oh... Oh!”

Right. Kriss had been pestering me about who’d make a better wife or mom, and I’d picked Primera every time. I’d said that mostly because I was tired of the whole thing, but even if I’d been taking it seriously, my answers would’ve been the same. I mean, let’s be real. Between those two options and the state she was in, I only had one choice.

“There are already people talking about you and Primera being engaged,” Albert began. “Even if she doesn’t care about the rumors, hearing you say those things out loud probably embarrassed her. Please leave her be for now.”

“Well, if we’re being honest, she brought that on herself. Still, maybe it’s a good thing she’s getting flustered. It might help push things forward...” Duke Sanga said, trailing off. He was clearly thinking out loud, but we heard every word—I had a feeling it wasn’t exactly an accident.

“Anyway, Duke Sanga, what exactly did you come here for?” I said with a bit of an edge in my voice.

He immediately straightened up and put on a more serious expression. “It’s about the engagement rumors.”

Ugh, I figured as much.

“Well, that’s not entirely true,” he added. “But the real reason I’m here today is to talk about the Dawnswords. Bringing Albert and Primera with me was just a pretext. People will assume this visit is about the rumors, and that gives me a convenient excuse for the reformists as well. Anyway, could you bring in the Dawnswords for me?”

He’s been messing with me this whole time... He really just wanted to see Jin and the others...

“Aura, can you go get the Dawnswords?”

She brought them back a few minutes later, and they looked seriously tense. I didn’t blame them. One minute, they were relaxing, and the next, they were being summoned by a duke. Even if they knew Duke Sanga through me, besides Leena, they probably hadn’t had much direct interaction with him.

“First of all, congratulations on conquering the Sagan City Dungeon.”

“Th-Thank you,” Jin replied, and the rest of the Dawnswords followed suit.

“I hear you wish to offer the dungeon’s core to the royal family. What would you like in return?” the duke asked.

The king had planned to award each of them a formal title and land in exchange for the Sagan dungeon’s core, but Jin and everyone else had declined. They’d said they had no interest in becoming nobles and no qualifications to manage any territory in the first place.

“That does pose a problem. If we just pay you in gold, it’ll feel like we’re buying it outright. And gemstones are bulky. Frankly, I don’t like them much myself.”

The royal family clearly wanted to give them some kind of special reward, but like the duke said, gold would cheapen it, and there wasn’t really any other kind of tangible thing that would match the value of a dungeon core.

“So, basically, the easiest and most obvious thing the royal family can do is hand out noble titles,” I said.

“Some people, like Tenma over here, will refuse a title even after stacking up achievement after achievement. I imagine the Dawnswords’ reasoning will be accepted too,” Duke Sanga said.

“It’s different with me,” I said. “Everything I’ve done could be compensated with money.”

My accomplishments weren’t official like the Dawnswords. The whole zombie dragon thing had been kept off the record. Sure, I’d slain earth and running dragons, but those had been typical adventurer fare, and I’d only sold off the parts I hadn’t needed. And while I’d cleared a dungeon, it’d been a small one in the SAR. Lady Hana had given me a reward.

Oh, and a sidenote about that—she’d tried to offer me Amur as my “reward,” but for once, both Honorary Viscount Lobo and I had been in agreement about something. We’d settled on gold and local specialties instead.

“Maybe we should’ve just forced a title on you after the coup incident...”

“I would’ve complained to Queen Maria if the king had tried that,” I said.

Sure, using her was a bit underhanded, but once you got Queen Maria on your side, you could get through most of the kingdom’s political walls without breaking a sweat.

“Anyway, forgetting Tenma’s situation for now... What do you think we should do?” Duke Sanga asked. He kept saying he was stuck, but his face said otherwise.

“Why not just call it like it is? Jin and the others clearly aren’t interested in becoming nobles right now. Maybe just say that when they retire from adventuring, the royal family will grant them titles then.”

Basically, I was suggesting that they defer the reward. And if the royal family agreed, it would still count.

“Yes, that might be the best option.” Duke Sanga accepted my idea without hesitation. Honestly, it felt like he’d been waiting for me to say that this whole time.

Jin and the others also seemed fine with the plan. They figured they could accept titles as long as it was decades from now.

“Wait... Was your plan to use me to get them to accept this whole time?” I asked.

“Yes. I assumed the Dawnswords would refuse titles. But you’re deeply connected to both them and the royal family, and you have real influence over noble circles. I thought if you were the one who proposed a compromise, it’d go over smoothly, even if someone had objections,” he explained.

It seemed like, once again, I’d been thoroughly played by the royals. But if I really was the only one who could bridge the gap between the Dawnswords and the king, I was fine with it. Still, now that I’d done them this favor, I figured it was about time I asked the king for one of my own.

“Master Tenma, you have a visitor,” Aura said.

I wondered who’d show up while Duke Sanga was here, and...

“Hope I’m not intruding!”

It was Gramps’s old friend, Ernest. And naturally, being royalty, he barged in before anyone could actually give permission.

“Go home! Jeanne, get the salt. Salt, I say!” Gramps’s roars echoed through the room as he shouted at Jeanne to ward Ernest off.

Jeanne looked startled but scrambled to grab the jar of salt. She then handed it to me, looking totally lost.

“Come on, Gramps. Don’t scare him off,” I said. “Someone who might actually be behind all this finally showed up. Sit wherever you want. And Jeanne, go put the salt back and bring some water or something while you’re at it.”

“If you’re getting him a drink, just use that old chipped cup by the sink. You know, the one Shiromaru used! Yeah, that one!” Gramps said.

He was talking about the cracked cup I’d set aside to throw out later. Shiromaru used to use it as a water bowl... While I thought I was being rude by offering just water, Gramps was on a whole other level.

I decided to put a stop to this because if it kept up, Gramps might actually snap. “Scratch that, Jeanne. Just bring him some tea,” I instructed. Then, I turned to our guest. “So you’re here about the payment for the Dawnswords, right? If so, Jin and the others have already finalized their requests. Duke Sanga will be submitting the official report to His Majesty later.”

“Well then, your business here is done, isn’t it? Now hurry up and go home! Go now!”

Gramps was stubbornly trying to kick Ernest out, but if he was here to handle the award arrangements, then we were already done here. That meant shooing him out wouldn’t be a problem...but Ernest ignored Gramps and sat down next to the duke instead.

“I see. So that part’s been settled, has it? Wonderful,” Ernest said. “Now then, Duke Sanga. How about we get to the reason I’m here?”

“Yes, Lord Ernest. I was just getting to that.”

Wondering what the real reason could be, I glanced at Albert. He just shrugged back at me. It seemed like he didn’t know either. I looked over at Primera, but when our eyes met, she quickly looked down and hid her face.

It seemed like things were shifting into personal territory, so Jin and the Dawnswords quietly excused themselves and went to their rooms.

“So what’s all this about the ‘real reason’?” I asked. I had a bad feeling about this, but it didn’t seem like either of them would leave until I let them talk, so I indulged them.

Something in Duke Sanga’s demeanor changed entirely. His whole vibe felt different now. “Well, I was planning to bring this up if we had time, and well...the matter of rewards was settled much faster than I expected. So now we can get into something more personal.” He paused for a moment. “I’ll get straight to the point. Tenma, will you get engaged to Primera?”

“Huh?!” I blurted out.

“Bwuh?!” Primera seemed even more stunned.

I looked around, and everyone in the room seemed frozen. Gramps, Jeanne, Aura... Even Amur and Leni were completely stiff, and their ears and tails were all bristled up. As for Albert, he was pacing in circles by Primera, flailing about like he was panicking.

“If engagement feels like too much, would you consider just keeping her close? As a mistress, to put it bluntly?”

The leap from fiancée to mistress was pretty jarring. Was it really okay for a father to suggest that about his own daughter?

“I wouldn’t normally ask something like this of you, Tenma, but this situation is complicated,” Duke Sanga said. He looked rather uncomfortable.

Ernest jumped in to explain further. “Some of the nobles assumed that Primera was open to marriage after seeing you and her dance the other day, and now, we’ve got fools trying to offer their sons instead of you. Some are even claiming it’s irresponsible of you not to marry her. They won’t say it outright, but they’re hinting that it reflects poorly on both the duke for doing nothing and the king for staying quiet.”

While some nobles were just stirring up trouble, others really did believe that. But either way, our actions were being criticized among the nobility. That much was obvious.

“Sure, we could silence them the hard way, but that’d risk splitting the kingdom up into factions. Now, it’s not that you’re in the wrong, exactly, but even being technically right doesn’t count for much to nobles. That’s why if Primera officially becomes your fiancée or even your mistress, we can cut off that criticism.”

Apparently, it wasn’t unheard of for nobles to offer up their daughters as mistresses to powerful figures. Some of the loudest critics had even done the same thing themselves. Attaching Primera to me that way would shut them up. And after that, if anyone tried to push the issue, they’d be the ones getting blamed. I wasn’t sure about that last part, however. It felt a little extreme... But then again, if someone tried to pick a fight with royalty or high nobility, whatever happened to them was kinda their fault.

“So please, could you at least keep her close? Even just as a public front?” Duke Sanga asked. He’d said it casually like it was nothing, but it felt like this was turning into something pretty big.

Getting engaged to Primera, huh? I never would’ve imagined it would turn out like this when we first met...

Ernest chimed in again while I was lost in thought. “The royal family will personally take care of any pests if you agree to this. I promise.”

He must’ve thought I was hesitating, but that wasn’t the case.

“No, I’m fine with it. It’s just...I was thinking how strange it is. I never imagined I’d end up being engaged to Primera when we first met.”

“I understand, so you’ll take her on as your mistress. It can just be for show—all we need is for it to look like that publicly. Of course, if you do decide you want to marry her for real someday, don’t hold ba— Wait, what?” Duke Sanga suddenly stopped and glanced around the room. “Hang on. Did you just say you’ll get engaged to her? You mean it?”

“Yes, that’s what I said.”

“Primera, come here. Albert, you too.” Duke Sanga looked stunned as he motioned both of his children over. Neither one of them spoke because they looked pretty surprised too, but they obeyed.

Then...

“Eep!”

“Ow, ow, ow!”

He gently pinched Primera’s cheek and violently twisted Albert’s.

“Hmm... Judging by Albert’s reaction, I’m not dreaming.” He shoved the red-faced Albert aside and turned to give his daughter a warm smile. “Congratulations, Primera.”

“Um, Duke Sanga...?”

“Aw, don’t be so formal, Tenma! You can call me Dad now!” He was so excited he wasn’t even listening to anything Primera or I was trying to say. The man was completely unreachable.

“Duke Sanga, calm down,” Ernest said, raising his voice just as I was trying to figure out how to bring him back to reality.

“Ah, I’m sorry, Lord Ernest. I think I got a little carried away.”

This was one of those moments that really made me remember how highly ranked Ernest was in this kingdom.

“Duke Sanga, please try to calm down,” I said. “We haven’t formally gotten engaged yet.”

“What?”

“Huh?”

Both the duke and Primera looked at me in surprise, but I ignored them. Instead, I stepped in front of Primera and held out my hand.

“Primera,” I began, “would you go out with me, with marriage in mind?”

This was the first real confession of my life. It didn’t feel right to get swept up in Duke Sanga’s excitement and rush straight into an engagement. And besides, I hadn’t even asked Primera how she felt. I didn’t think she disliked me, but it was possible that she didn’t think of me in a romantic way. Marriage and romance were all new to me, even if you counted my past life’s experiences, so I figured it was best to follow the proper steps.

I’d seen plenty of tragic clips in my previous life where people confessed at the completely wrong moment and got rejected. I didn’t want to assume anything until I heard her answer.

“Yes, I’d be happy to,” she said.

Considering how she’d acted a little while ago, I hadn’t really expected her to turn me down. But if she had, I probably would’ve had to hole up in my room for a while.

“Well, both sides agree and both heads of house approve, so I suppose we can consider the engagement official. However, if this goes any further here, Queen Maria is going to sulk. It’ll be better to finish the rest of this conversation in front of her.”

Ernest had a point. If the queen found out later that all this had happened behind her back, I knew I could expect an endless barrage of passive-aggressive comments every time we saw each other.

“Primera, let’s head to the palace. Duke Sanga, I’ll need you there for the report as well. And, Gramps, Ernest, why don’t you come along too while we’re at it?” I asked.

“While we’re at it, he says...” Gramps and Ernest muttered in unison.

Despite their complaints and fighting, I knew they were actually close friends.

“All right, we’ll be going out for a bit. Hold down the fort for us,” I said, leaving Jeanne and the others in charge here.

We quickly set off for the palace. We each rode in separate carriages for the most part, but for some reason, Primera ended up riding with me. Albert climbed up onto the driver’s seat of my carriage.

I asked him why, and he muttered, “Father’s acting so giddy it’s making me sick.”

As for Primera, she turned bright red and looked away shyly.

♢♢♢

“Everything’s going more or less according to plan.”

“What’s going according to plan, Amur?”

I was so pleased with how things were unfolding that I had blurted out my thoughts. And I was so wrapped up in it that I didn’t even notice Jeanne standing right beside me. Oh well.

“Basically, this is step one,” I said. “Or maybe step two or three. Either way, it’s part of my plan for me to end up with Tenma.” I hadn’t really thought about it in terms of exact steps, so honestly, I wasn’t really sure what number I was on. “Anyway, that doesn’t matter. The point is, Primera needs to become his legal wife for me to end up with Tenma.”

“Why?”

Sheesh, how dumb can you be? Isn’t it obvious? I guess I’ll just explain since Jeanne’s part of the plan too.

“It’s not totally impossible for you and me to marry Tenma, but it’s really unlikely. We’re too close to him,” I explained.

I didn’t think that Tenma saw me in a romantic light. It was even worse—he saw me as family. That bond was stronger than any romantic feelings. And Jeanne was in the same boat. That meant that at this rate, it was very unlikely either of us would get married to him.

“Yeah, I get what you mean.”

“So that’s why we need Primera. She’s got a bit of distance from him, he definitely sees her romantically, and most importantly, she’s easy to handle—er, I mean, she’s nice.”

“You were about to say something really rude right now, right?” Jeanne asked.

“Must’ve been your imagination.”

Jeanne looked suspicious, but I needed her to just let that part slide.

“Anyway, so here’s Primera’s role. She’s the catalyst to Tenma’s lust, okay? If Tenma starts seeing her in a romantic light, it could help shift his perception of me from ‘family member’ to ‘woman.’ And if that happens? I’ve got a shot! If that still doesn’t work, I’ll appeal to Primera’s emotions.”

Fortunately, or maybe thanks to that lich thing in Kukuri Village, Tenma’s view of women had softened quite a bit. Gramps had even said so. Plus, if I tried to force my way into being his main wife, the duke and queen would probably push back against it. But I didn’t need to be the first wife anyway. It was better to have them on my side, or at the very least not be opposed to me. If I came in as a concubine or second wife, they shouldn’t have anything to complain about.

Officially, I was the daughter of a powerful viscount. If someone like that came in after Primera, her standing would only go up, not down. The same went for the Sanga family.

I explained that to Jeanne, and she said, “You actually managed to think all that through, Amur?”

“That’s rude, Jeanne! If this works out, you can have a chance with Tenma too!”

That shut her up real fast. Actually, she turned bright red and started flailing.

Part Three

When we arrived at the castle, we made our way to the king’s study. The queen didn’t seem to be there.

“Alex, would you go call Maria and the others? We’ve got something to report,” Ernest said.

“What’s going on, Uncle?” The king glanced at us, trying to get a read on the situation, but Ernest just kept saying, “We’ll talk once Maria’s here.” He refused to budge.

“Cruyff! Go get Maria!” the king shouted down the hallway.

“I already sent Aina,” a voice answered.

Neither Gramps nor I was surprised—we’d both had Cruyff sneak up on us plenty of times. I didn’t even turn to look. But Duke Sanga, Albert, and Primera all jumped and spun around at the sudden voice from behind. But I’d bet anything Cruyff was grinning to himself, pleased with his prank.

“You mentioned you had something to report? Oh?”

We were sitting around the table, chatting, when Queen Maria and Aina finally showed up. Judging by the look on her face, she hadn’t been told Primera and I were here. After a second of stunned silence, she turned and glared at Aina, who looked totally unfazed.

“If Tenma, Merlin, and the entire Sanga family’s here... Don’t tell me you’ve finally decided to settle down?! Wait, no. This is Tenma we’re talking about. Surely not...” She laughed it off as she moved to sit beside the king.

“I’m here to report that I am now engaged to Lady Primera von Sanga,” I said.

“Huh?! Eep!”

“Bwuh-gaah!”

The queen missed her chair in shock and crashed into the king, nearly toppling over. The king, however, did topple over, chair and all, and he fell straight on the floor.

When I saw the look of pure shock on Queen Maria’s face, I had this weird gut feeling like the universe itself was telling me to turn around. I did, and sure enough, I saw Cruyff and Aina standing behind me, looking more shocked than I’d ever seen them be before.

“I... I... So it’s true, then?!”

Primera and I nodded in unison, and Queen Maria looked like all the strength had drained from her body as she slumped back into her chair. That seemed to snap Cruyff out of it. He quietly started preparing some tea while Aina ran off somewhere.

“Argh, my back... My back...” the king croaked, but everyone ignored him. He had to crawl his way back to his chair by himself.

“Anyway... Tenma, what brought all this on? Oh, and just so we’re clear, I have absolutely no intention of opposing it, so no need to be so tense. I’m just curious, that’s all,” Queen Maria said to me, but the second half of what she’d said had clearly been aimed at Primera, who was frozen with nerves. Unfortunately, the queen’s reassurance didn’t seem to help her much.

“Well, given everything that’s happened lately and the fact that I’ve always thought highly of Primera, I figured this was a good chance to be honest about how I felt. But I really wasn’t sure she’d say yes, so I was very relieved when she accepted,” I said, trying to keep the mood light.

Primera started to relax a bit at this point, and eventually, she managed to answer Maria’s questions herself.

“All right, so I understand that much. But when are you planning to get married? I mean, I hate to put it so bluntly, but Primera’s not exactly young anymore.”

Primera was turning twenty-four this year, which was on the later side for marriage when it came to nobility. But on the other hand, Albert and Eliza were twenty-six and still only engaged, so it wasn’t like there was no precedent.

“Actually, I wanted to ask Duke Sanga and Primera about that. I’d like to wait until sometime next year. And when we do get married, I’d like Primera to give up her noble title,” I suggested.

“Could you explain that? I understand you wanting to delay the wedding, and I know Primera’s mentioned giving up her title before, but getting married while still holding a noble title does have its advantages.”

Everyone looked confused.

“Right. First, about the timing, I’d like to wait because Primera just started working in her new role with House Sanga, and I don’t want the marriage to interfere with her duties,” I explained. “As for leaving the nobility, it’s because if we ever have kids, I don’t want them to inherit the Sanga family’s title.”

“I see... I appreciate you thinking about that, and your reasons for waiting are perfectly sound. But denying your children the right of inheritance isn’t that simple. Even if Primera gives up her title, your child will still carry Sanga blood. That alone gives them a claim to a title,” Duke Sanga said.

“Sure, but it lowers their position in the line of succession, doesn’t it?” I suggested. “I’ve heard that your two older daughters both have multiple sons, and those boys already have claims on inheriting their father’s lines. On the other hand, the Otori family isn’t a noble family. There’s no title to inherit, so even if someone tried to push my child forward as a candidate, it wouldn’t stick. Worst-case scenario, even an unrelated person adopted into the Otori family could take over. But if something were to happen to Albert or his children, my child would be seen as a strong contender to inherit the title within House Sanga.”

I was worried that some of Duke Sanga’s retainers might try to use that to tie the Otori family to their own power structure. And rival nobles might exploit our connection, using my child as a pawn to throw the Sanga family into chaos. But if Primera gave up her title, no matter the bloodline connections, the family name would still be that of a commoner.

“If it comes down to a noble child with a rightful claim versus a commoner with noble blood, people will say the noble child is more fit to inherit, right?” I asked.

I just really didn’t want to drag my future children into the bloody business of the nobility.

“You’ve got a point. I can’t say that’s impossible. Well, Primera, Tenma’s made his case. What do you think?” the duke asked.

“I agree with him. That was one of the reasons I wanted to give up my title in the first place—to remove any claim to succession.”

Depending on how you looked at it, I was basically saying I wanted all the benefits of marrying into nobility without taking on any responsibility. But...

“Being connected with one of the kingdom’s top-ranked fighters is invaluable. And, if anything, this makes it less likely that our house would be taken over. I don’t see any problems. If anyone objects, we can easily shut them up as well,” Duke Sanga said.

That was pretty much the reaction I had expected from him—Primera’s happiness always came first for him. It was far more important than any risk of a hostile takeover. Not that I’d had any intention of running the family anyway. It sounded like a hassle. I figured he’d already taken that into account too.

“There’s no need for the royal family to intervene if Duke Sanga is in agreement,” the king said.

“I agree. Congratulations, Tenma and Primera,” Queen Maria said.

There wasn’t much else for them to say. Since all the directly involved parties were in agreement, they offered their blessings without interfering.

“Tenma, how about we talk about next year’s tournament since you’re here? Got any good ideas? Owwie!”

The king had barely finished his question when he let out a strange yelp and fell out of his chair. From the way he held his foot, I was guessing the queen had just stomped on it.

“I was actually thinking of only joining the individual competition next year. Since I’ll be getting married and everything, you know. Honestly, competing in all three divisions is kind of exhausting,” I said.

“You can get away with that next year, but not the year after.”

“Well, I can worry about that when the time comes. Who knows? Maybe I’ll feel like entering everything again.”

Sure, my answer left the door open for competing next year too, but who cared? I’d remember that I decided to only join the individual division next year. Probably, at least...

“Well, we’ll be working on some format changes on our end too. We can’t really exclude adventurers from competing. Just don’t overdo it,” the king said.

I knew what he meant. If I kept winning too much, it’d mess with recruitment and gambling revenue. The payout calculation took twenty percent off the total pot before distributing winnings, so whether I won or lost, it didn’t change how much money the kingdom got. But when the odds were bad enough that even winning meant you just got your money back or lost some, people stopped betting altogether, and sales dropped across the board.

“I think the one who’s overdoing it isn’t me—it’s Prince Zane. He’s the one who needs to come up with a better way to sell this,” I said.

The king quietly looked away.

“By the way, did you forget? Even if Tenma sits out, Oracion can still join the team event,” Gramps said.

We still had enough team members to join even if I didn’t participate, but...

“You’re forgetting something. If Tenma doesn’t compete, then Rocket and the rest of his followers can’t compete either.”

“Oh, right.”

Gramps had forgotten. But yeah, Rocket and the others were my followers, and since I was technically their Tamer, they couldn’t participate if I wasn’t. Marquis Sammons had pulled something similar once, putting his knights and followers in the match while staying on the roster as a backup. As long as the Tamer was on the team roster, followers could enter, even if their Tamer sat out. But if their Tamer wasn’t part of the team at all, the followers couldn’t be registered.

So, removing me and my followers meant the only ones left from this year’s Team Oracion were Gramps and Amur. We could technically form a new team, but we’d have to bring in Jeanne, Aura, and Aina instead. Incidentally, Aina was still listed as a backup member for Jeanne and Aura’s training.

“That’s a shame...” Gramps looked disappointed for all of five seconds before declaring, “Then I’ll enter the pairs division with Amur!”

Something told me he’d probably end up joining the individual tournament too.

“In that case,” Duke Sanga began, “after we formally announce the engagement, it might be best to let some rumors circulate quietly. Something like ‘With all the wedding prep, Tenma might not compete outside the individual division next year.’ Let’s keep it vague. If we say outright that he won’t participate at all, people might assume that the royal family pressured him. And if he changes his mind later, they’ll start making a fuss about it.”

“Hm, it’s best to go with the duke’s suggestions,” Ernest said, nodding in agreement. “And Tenma, when people start poking around to confirm things, you don’t need to engage with them. It’d just be a rumor, after all.”

If someone I didn’t know asked me about it, I’d just ignore them. And if it was someone I did know, I could play it off, saying, “Things will definitely be busy, but I haven’t made a final decision yet.” If I let Jin and the others catch wind of it, it would spread like wildfire.

Of course, none of that would happen until after our engagement was officially announced, and who knew when that would be. Still, Jin had a surprisingly big network. I was sure he’d handle it well.

The topic of discussion then shifted to when we’d go public with the engagement. Eventually, we settled on announcing it at Duke Sanga’s New Year’s party, once Jin and the others were done spreading rumors. Queen Maria wanted the royal family to announce it at their own party, but even she couldn’t deny that Duke Sanga deserved to have that honor. She agreed to have me and Primera appear together at the second event instead.

“Hey, Gramps, when do you think I should tell Uncle Mark and Aunt Martha?” I asked.

“Sooner would be better, I’m sure. But there are too many moving parts. If they find out before the duke’s announcement and the info spreads, it could get messy. I’m sorry to say it, but it’d be best to hold off until after the New Year. They’ll probably suspect something anyway, but unless you spell it out, it should be fine,” he told me.

It hurt to keep them in the dark, but I’d never forgive myself if anything were to happen and they got blamed for it. It was better to wait and explain and apologize later.

Once the matters about Primera and me were settled, Duke Sanga shifted the conversation to Jin and the others’ reward. We left him to it and headed home.

“I should probably ask Amur and the others to keep quiet...” I said.

“Right. Oh, isn’t that Dean and Aina over there?”

So that was why Aina had run off earlier—to get Dean.

“Tenma, Aina just told me you and Lady Primera are engaged. Is that true?”

I nodded, and Dean congratulated us both. But once I told him the news wasn’t public yet, he turned to scold Aina. Apparently, she’d barged in on his training session, yanked him away without warning, and dragged him along with her. Other knights had been around at the time, but thankfully, she’d waited to explain the situation until they were alone. No one else had heard anything. Still, he said it could be a hassle if someone started asking why Aina had looked so frantic.

“Well, we should probably head back to the king now.”

“My apologies, Master Tenma and Lady Primera. That was unbecoming of me,” Aina said.

She seemed to have calmed down after linking up with Dean. Aina looked like her usual self again, besides her flushed cheeks. I didn’t comment on that, though. Sure, teasing her might have been tempting, but I didn’t feel like risking my life today.

“Still, are you sure you don’t want me to take you back to the duke’s place?” I asked Primera.

“My father’s going back to your place soon anyway. Plus, Primera needs to talk to Amur and the others,” Albert said.

“Well, yeah, that’s true, but...”

Primera sounded nervous, but I figured it wouldn’t turn into anything serious.

But then...

“Tenma! Is it true you got engaged to Primera?!”

“Hey! Leon, not so loud!”

The other two noble idiots were making a scene, and thanks to that, Jin and the Dawnswords found out too, which meant we immediately had to go into damage control mode.

Miraculously, despite all the commotion, Kriss never woke up.

“Sorry!”

The one who spilled the beans was Amur. She went straight over to Primera and sat formally on her knees in apology while Leon was still getting chewed out by Albert.

“I’m not upset, Lady Amur. Just sit down, please. We can’t talk like this,” Primera said.

“Okay. And please, just call me Amur.” Amur seemed like she knew that Primera would say that. She stood back up and took a seat without hesitation.

“Well, I didn’t expect Leon to make such a scene, but it’s also our fault for not telling you three to keep it quiet. Besides, it’s not like the news got to anyone who’d spread it just to make trouble. So don’t worry about it.”

Amur and Primera made peace, and that was that—not that there’d been much conflict to begin with. Albert, on the other hand, was still fuming. He probably wasn’t worried that the engagement was actually ruined, but I could tell he hated that it had almost turned into a mess.

He’d been going off this whole time, yelling things like “Don’t go blabbing about unannounced engagements!” and “Are you trying to ruin Tenma and Primera’s future?!” and “Your carelessness reflects on me, you know!” and “Are you trying to fracture the ties between the royal family and House Haust?!”

It wasn’t that big of a deal, but he wasn’t calming down.

“All right, Albert. I think that’s enough. You’re going overboard,” I said. “Leon didn’t mean any harm. He just panicked. And look, he looks like he’s about to cry.”

“If you say so, Tenma...”

Albert finally backed off, though he clearly wasn’t happy about it. Maybe even he had realized he’d gotten a bit too heated and just hadn’t known how to stop.

“Tenma, Primera, I’m sorry,” Leon said.

“It’s fine. No one outside the house heard. As long as everyone here keeps quiet, we’re in the clear. I’m sure Jin and the others understand,” I replied.

“Yeah. And I’ll just remind Leena later.”

Leena might’ve given up her title, but she was still a viscount’s daughter. She understood how serious things could get. And if she were to tell them to keep quiet, the others would definitely listen.

Still...

I noticed something. “Leena calls you ‘Primera’ and not ‘Lady Primera,’ huh?” That got me curious, because technically, Primera outranked Leena.

“Oh, yeah. That’s because we knew each other when we were kids, that’s all,” Primera said.

I assumed it was just her being her airheaded self until I thought about it deeply, but apparently, she had a reason and was doing it on purpose. Leena had never really been that serious about status, so Primera being unconcerned was probably all right.

“I’ll talk to Jin and the others too, just to be sure,” I added. “I mean, even if people find out, it’s not like the engagement itself is in danger or anything. But if someone talks about it before they should, their own reputation could take a hit.”

Honestly, I didn’t think it would be a huge problem even if more people knew about our engagement. But if someone like Jin let it slip by mistake, the royal family or Duke Sanga might not take to it very kindly. But between my warning and the one Primera would pass along to Leena, they’d understand just how risky it was.

And if they needed to vent about it, they could do it to me behind closed doors. I could deal with that. And if not, I could always drag them into some training matches to burn off steam...

“Jin’s group should be fine, but what about Kriss? Even all that yelling earlier didn’t wake her up.”

I was honestly a little concerned that Kriss was still passed out cold. I could hear her breathing, and she didn’t look uncomfortable, so she was probably fine. She hadn’t stirred, though, not even once. I was starting to wonder if she was faking it.

“I mean, she’s peaceful, so let’s just leave her be. She’ll probably raise even more of a fuss than Leon did if she wakes up and finds out,” Cain suggested.

That made sense, so we all agreed to just let Kriss sleep. She’d already gotten grumpy enough over the earlier commotion. If she woke up hungover and heard about the engagement? She’d be totally unmanageable.

If we were going to tell her, it needed to be at a time when Queen Maria was in the room, or at least with Aina around.

Kriss didn’t wake up until dinnertime, and even then, she just quietly left with Aina and Duke Sanga. I invited her to stay and eat, but it looked like the alcohol was still sitting heavy in her system—she didn’t have much of an appetite.

At the rate she was going, she was gonna have a hell of a hangover tomorrow.

“That’s all for tonight, then. We’ll go ahead and take our leave,” Duke Sanga said.

He and the others headed home after dinner. On their way out, Leon asked Primera if she was going to stay the night here, but since our engagement was officially still a secret, the duke had decided we should avoid doing anything that might hint at it.

“Still, Tenma getting married, huh? I always thought you weren’t interested in women. Guess I was worrying all for nothing!” Jin said, bursting out laughing.

Galatt, Mennas, and even Gramps followed suit.

“I always figured that if Tenma ever did get married, it would probably be to Primera. I’m not that surprised it happened, but I just didn’t expect you to jump straight into an engagement,” Leena said, puffing out her chest like she’d called it all along—well, except for the sudden engagement part.

For some reason, Amur did the same. Jeanne glanced at her, then at me. She was blushing, but I didn’t know why.

“Well, we’ve still got time before we make the announcement, so things should be pretty calm around here until then. In the meantime, the Dawnswords will be the ones in the spotlight. What’s the plan after you meet with the king?” I asked.

They all made a face at that.

“We were hoping you could give us a hand, actually,” Jin said.

“Oh yeah? With what?”

“Well, we retrieved the hydra’s magic core and the dungeon core, but we had to leave the rest of the materials behind. Our magic bags weren’t big enough to haul everything,” he explained.

“Ah, so you’re asking me to be your deliveryman! Well, unfortunately, I stopped quite a few floors from the bottom,” I said.

They knew that, though, which meant they were expecting me to make my way down to the lowest floor on my own.

Alternatively... “Are you planning to escort me down there yourselves?” I asked.

After all, one of them could hold my hand and take me to a warp point near the bottom. I’d done something like that with Amy before.

I shrugged. “Wouldn’t other adventurers complain about that, though? Honestly, I think you’d be better off asking a guild employee to go with you and collect the materials that way.”

That way, none of us would end up with some bitter adventurers harboring a grudge. But...

“If we do that, there’s a good chance the guild employee’s adventurer friends would end up on the bottom floor next. And they’d end up dead.”

Guild staff were supposed to be neutral, but of course, things didn’t always work out like that. If someone’s buddy asked or if there was a paying client, they might secretly guide them down there. Alternatively, the guild could make some kind of official request and send adventurers to harvest materials from the bottom.

“The thing is, you’ve got more magic bags and dimension bags than you know what to do with. And nothing down there can beat you,” Jin said.

“Fine, but you’d better not complain if I strip the bottom floor of every last scrap of material,” I replied.

It wasn’t like I’d actually do that, of course. But if I stumbled across something rare, like a mythril vein? I couldn’t promise I’d leave it alone.

“Doesn’t bother me. Knowing you, you’d probably decide it was better to make another run yourself than let some weird rumor start about what’s down there.”

They factored my personality into their request, huh?

“You know me well. In that case, let’s get moving right after you present the dungeon core to the king. It might be better to let him know ahead of time. That way, you might get a good price for the bits you don’t want,” I pointed out.

Hydra meat and organs were poisonous, but their venom glands had their uses too, and the hides and bones could be made into weapons or armor. Jin said this one had been huge, so there’d be plenty worth salvaging even without its meat. Some portion of the spoils would have to go to the Sagan adventurers’ guild, but offering the rest to the king, payment included, would only boost his opinion of the Dawnswords.

“Could you explain that to him when the time comes? Everything’ll go faster if he hears it from you,” Jin said.

Apparently, Jin didn’t want to have to answer too many questions. It wasn’t like they were doing anything shady, but the king was someone way beyond his station. Having me there would probably make things go quicker, and the Dawnswords would feel safer too.

“Sure, but I want a cut of the hydra materials in exchange, even if it’s just a few things. Just whatever you have left after you’ve set aside your share, the king’s share, and the guild’s share,” I said.

Honestly, since all I’d be doing was hauling things for them, I doubted I’d get much. But hydra parts were rare, and I wanted at least a few for my collection. Between earth dragons, running dragons, and wyverns, I had plenty of trophies lying around. But learning about a warp point near the bottom floor was valuable in its own right—maybe I’d get more than I was giving.

“We’ve got no problem if that’s good with you. I should warn you, though, there might not be much usable hide,” Jin said as he ducked his head apologetically.

Gramps seemed shocked by that. “That means you kept up some pretty brutal attacks, boy! A hydra’s regeneration skills are top-tier.”

He was the only other one among us who’d fought a hydra before.

The Dawnswords seemed a little embarrassed. “Well, brutal’s one word for it...”

We all stared at Jin until he confessed what’d happened.

“We brought in dozens of ballistae and shot the hydra full of bolts. Then, we drenched it in oil and set it on fire. Once it was weak, we started chopping off its heads. Once it stopped moving, we ripped out the core.”

Apparently, the reason they sounded embarrassed was because they thought their method sounded a bit underhanded.

I pressed them for details. Jin told me that they had hauled five or six ballistae at a time to the floor above the lowest one, crept into the very edge of shooting range, and then set them up until they had enough to fire in waves. The bolts were custom-made ones with thick, hollow shafts. The idea was that when they struck the hydra, blood would gush out from the other end.

Even a hydra couldn’t heal itself faster than it bled out. Once the flow of blood slowed, they had drowned the creature in oil, lit it up, and hacked away at its heads. And by that point, its regen had slowed so much that none of the heads would grow back, although the necks had swelled up into empty stumps. Its heart had still been beating, even after all, when they had torn it out along with the core.

“Damn. Sounds like a pretty savage battle, but I guess that’s how far you’ve gotta go against a hydra. Anyone expecting some heroic encounter is gonna be disappointed with that story, though.”

“Sure, but I think it was a pretty ingenious strategy,” Gramps countered. “You’d need a confined space like a dungeon and the means to haul in supplies to pull it off, but that was far safer than the way I did it. Your odds of survival were way better too. You just might have to give up on the hide in exchange.”

Gramps’s take was a lot more generous than mine, but it carried a lot more weight. He’d actually fought one before, unlike me.

Jin and the others lit up at his praise and launched into their war stories, which got Gramps all fired up too. Before I knew it, another drinking party had begun.

The next morning, Jeanne and Aura found Gramps and the Dawnswords passed out in the dining room. Jeanne, Aura, Leni, and I were all fine since we’d gone to bed before midnight, but Amur had stayed up with them until Leni had gone back downstairs and dragged her off. She got up at the same time I did, but she looked pretty rough. And judging by what Leni said, the others had kept drinking long after that—maybe even until dawn.

“Hey, Jin! Wake up!”

“Ugh, my head... Keep it down...” Jin’s hangover must’ve been pretty intense, because even talking seemed to hurt.

“No drinking for a few days,” I ordered. “Not until after you meet the king.”

“Got it...” Jin said, speaking for the group. It seemed like Galatt, Mennas, and Leena didn’t even have the energy to answer.

Gramps staggered off towards the kitchen while I was dealing with the Dawnswords.

“Gramps, I already cleared out all the meds in there. You’re not gonna find anything,” I warned.

“Mm, nghh...” he mumbled, giving up on the medicine and trudging over to stand in front of me instead.

“Listen, Jin and the others are here to meet the king,” I reminded him. “Don’t get carried away and drink them under the table. I’m reporting this to Ernest, by the way, so brace yourself for a couple of lectures. Maybe even a dozen.”

I knew scolding him myself wouldn’t do much, so I opted to involve the person he’d least want to hear it from. I didn’t even need to ask Ernest—I knew that the moment he had an excuse to harass Gramps, he’d be all in.

“W-Wait, that’s...”

“Too bad. I’ve already made up my mind,” I said, not giving him a chance to argue.

I went straight over to Jin’s crew to hand out meds. Guests first, after all.

“Sorry, Gramps. I’m all out.”

I really had run out after giving Leena hers. Lately, Kriss had been drinking like a fish, so my stockpile had taken a beating.

“I’ll go get some from Uncle Mark. Just hang on,” I told him.

“Hurry back... Ugh...”

I had a bad feeling about leaving Gramps in this state, but I rushed off to Uncle Mark’s inn to get more. He had kept stock of some of the meds I made at home, so it was just a matter of picking some up from him.

“Gramps, I got... Uh?” I made it back in under thirty minutes, but when I returned, I found Gramps face down on the table, like a corpse. I set the medicine and a glass of water down beside him, closed my eyes, and clasped my hands in prayer. “May you rest in peace.”

“I’m still alive, you know!” he grumbled.

I thought I heard something, but I was a busy man. I quietly left him to it.

“All right. I finished up breakfast, so it’s time to get to work.”

Today, my task was to make a golem for Primera. Golems were practically standard-issue items in my family now, and since this one was going to protect my fiancée, it needed to be even better than the ones I usually made. That meant it could take a while, but I still had some time before I needed to give it to her. I didn’t necessarily need to rush.

“Let’s see... What should it look like? A knight, maybe?” Obviously, when I thought of Primera, I thought about knights. I decided to go with that. “Okay, so that’s set. But what kind of materials should I use?”

So far, I’d made golems out of wood, stone, and earth. I had retuned the cores of the best ones, made royal-exclusive ones, and crafted scorpion golems for Jeanne and Aura. I’d also made the Guardian Giganto and even built horse types, like Valley Wind and Thunderbolt. That was roughly how difficult those were to make too, though Valley Wind would come before the royal-exclusive ones.

“The difficulty and strength of creating one depends on how rare the materials are and how much metal I use... But I still don’t know how I managed to make Thunderbolt,” I said to myself.

If I ever figured out how to replicate him, I could probably create the strongest army in the kingdom. Not that it would be a good idea, of course. If that kind of knowledge got around, it could destroy the kingdom. Still, I couldn’t shake the feeling that it being a secret was a waste.

“I’d like to make one like the royal exclusives, but I promised that I wouldn’t sell them to anyone outside the royal family. I shouldn’t give one like that to Primera.”

I wouldn’t technically be selling it, but the agreement might’ve also meant that I was forbidden from giving them away. It was better to just avoid it altogether.

“That means I should make something brand-new. Hmm...”

Of course, that was easier said than done. I decided to start by selecting a magic core.

“Let’s see... What to use...?”

I dug through my bag. I had an absurd number of magic cores from everything from rare dragons like earth dragons and running dragons to common creatures like orcs and goblins. There must be over ten thousand in there, just at a glance.

“Dragons are too big, and orcs or goblins won’t make a strong enough golem,” I reasoned.

All my Rank S monster cores were too big. The only smaller ones that were close in rank belonged to wyverns.

“Hm, a wyvern core could work as is...”

Bigger cores meant that I’d need a thicker shell, and that’d result in a heavier, slower golem. However, a wyvern core was only about a dozen centimeters across, so I wouldn’t need to overbuild it.

“Some of these are chipped, but that’s fine.”

I’d used cracked dragon zombie cores for Giganto and Valley Wind, so in theory, a cracked wyvern one should work too. Granted, wyverns were much weaker, so there was no guarantee, but even if a cracked one didn’t work for this golem, I could reuse it in another way. And I had plenty of these cores too.

“This is tricky...”

In practice, the intact cores worked fine for golems, but the chipped ones were misshapen enough that inscribing the golem’s programming onto them ended up being way harder than I’d imagined.

“Well, I messed up a few, but I got five clean ones. That should be enough,” I said. “The cores are done, but I still need a body. Now what?”

I had the golem’s heart all set, but still hadn’t nailed down its actual design.

“Oh, I should eat lunch.”

However, I’d been so focused that I hadn’t noticed it was already past noon, and the second I began thinking about food, my stomach started growling.

“Nothing good here. Guess I’ll eat somewhere else.”

Since I couldn’t find anything good to eat in the kitchen, I decided to stretch my legs a bit and go check out some food stalls.

“You wanna come too, Shiromaru and Solomon?”

They must’ve heard me mentioning food stalls, because when I looked back, both of them were ready to go. My two followers had serious expressions on their faces and drool dripping from their mouths. Rocket was busily mopping it up.

“All right, let’s go. But you have to stay inside the bag, Solomon.”

“Squee...” Solomon slipped into his usual dimension bag, sounding like he’d said, Yeah, I know...

“There are still lots of stalls around. Guess we have Jin to thank for that.”

Normally, most of the vendors would pack up their business after the post-tournament royal banquet, but this time, the buzz from the Dawnswords’ dungeon conquest had kept them in the capital a lot longer than usual.

“I’m pretty full now, but you two are still hungry?” I asked. I was stuffed after hitting a few stalls, but Shiromaru and Solomon weren’t even close. It looked like I would be here for a while.

“I guess you’re finally satisfied now.”

It had been almost evening by the time they’d gotten their fill. Now, they were both curled up and snoring inside the bag.

“Must be nice to eat until you pass out,” I said, and Rocket bounced in agreement.

Knowing those two, they’d probably still eat dinner...

I took the long way home to walk it off. I spotted the city knights making their rounds more than once—they had probably doubled their patrols as a show of force. There would always be a spike in crime at this time of year, and I figured they were on high alert with the festival mood dragging on, thanks to Jin and his crew.

“All right, I think I’ve finally got a direction for this golem...”

I’d already decided on a knight-type golem, and watching the actual knights in their suits of armor had sparked an idea as to how to make it. There was one problem, though.

“This is gonna be tricky to pull off alone. Might as well ask Kelly for help.”

If I were to ask anyone in the capital for help, it’d be the blacksmith I trusted most.

“Hey there!” I said.

“Well, I haven’t seen you in a while! What brings you here?”

I told Kelly about my idea and asked if she thought it was even feasible.

“Hm... Well, it’s not impossible, but the problem’s going to be the golem core’s output. Getting it to move will be tough with what you’re proposing, no matter how much you tweak it.”

When I had made Amy’s golem, I’d started with a bare-bones frame. Then, I’d covered that in armor to create the body, and then I had finally layered monster hides over the whole thing. That was the most versatile method of making one that I knew, but this time, I wanted to slap a suit of armor on top of that.

I told Kelly I wanted a golem like Amy’s, but with armor. Naturally, she was worried about the power output.

“Right, but here’s the twist. The armor’s gonna be a golem too,” I said. “And I’m planning on using the cores from several wyverns for both the inner frame and the armor itself.”

Amy’s golem had been made with one of my best cores. This time, I’d use a handpicked Rank A wyvern core. The inner frame alone would outclass Amy’s, and if the armor’s core worked as planned, the combined might could make it even more powerful. Think of it as putting a power suit on a golem. Figuring out its total power level wouldn’t be as easy as just adding things together, but in theory, the armor should make it stronger than just the core body, even as support.

“Wait, you’re saying you’re gonna build two golems and make them into one? You really do come up with the craziest stuff,” commented Kelly.

“Well, it’s more like two golems with two main cores, and then I’d use several other crushed magic cores to reinforce things. If you were just counting cores, it’d be more like mashing a bunch of golems into one,” I said.

I was planning to use two full cores and grind down others to give the whole golem a boost. Normally, you’d use one core per golem, but this one would take several.

“Crazy doesn’t even cut it! It’s a ridiculous idea,” Kelly said. “But knowing your track record, it’s just ridiculous enough to work.”

Actually, I’d already pulled off something like this before. Thunderbolt and Giganto had used up more total core mass, after all.

“So I’m in charge of the armor?” she asked.

“Yeah. I could make it myself, but I’d rather have a real pro do it than end up with something half-baked.”

If I hadn’t known any smiths more skilled than me, I would’ve just made it myself. But I knew two trustworthy, master blacksmiths, and between Kelly and Master Gantz, Kelly was the safer bet. Master Gantz had a tendency to go rogue when he got into something, and once that happened, it was tough to rein him in. I didn’t want to get dragged into that kind of chaos again.

“Well, this sounds intriguing, so I would’ve taken this on even if you didn’t ask. But if it’s going to be custom-fitted armor for a golem, I do have to wait until you’ve built the inner golem.”

“That’s true. Let’s discuss the materials and payment now, though,” I said. “I was thinking of a set of full plate armor made from mythril, adamantine, or orichalcum.”

“Hang on a second. Mythril, maybe, but there’s no way you’ll get enough adamantine or orichalcum for a full suit of armor!” she said. Kelly then continued and told me that a full suit of armor made of either of those materials would be on the level of a national treasure, Kelly told me.

So mythril it was—plus a pile of magic iron.

“Mythril’s easier to get this time of year, so one golem’s worth shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll keep an eye out for anything else that might work too.”

People would sell off weapons, armor, jewels, and metals to raise cash for betting or auctions during the tournament season. Kelly said if she tapped her contacts and metal suppliers, she could get what I needed.

“Okay, I’m counting on you,” I said.

“Sure thing. I’ll gather the materials while you get that inner frame built. Oh, and I’ll be billing you for the metals later.”

Who knew what that bill would look like? But if Kelly said she’d get something, she would...though it might exceed market price. Still, it wasn’t like I was broke or something.

“Don’t hold back, then,” I told her.

“Good to know,” she said with an eerie smile, then handed some things off to her staff and bolted out the door.

A few days later...

“I’m pooped...”

“I’d rather fight the hydra again...”

“I’d rather do neither.”

The Dawnswords’ audience with the king had gone smoothly. I had gone along as an escort, but they hadn’t let me past the waiting room. That’d been fine by me—actually, I’d asked the king to keep it that way, so I had just planned to relax while Jin and the others were sweating it out.

That plan had lasted until Tida and Luna came to visit me. The two of them hadn’t known about my engagement to Primera, so luckily that topic had never come up.

“You seem pretty relaxed, Leena. Past experience paid off?” I asked.

“Yeah, and I’m glad it did!”

She was a former noble and was used to meeting important people, so I’d assumed that’d help.

“The best thing to do is leave it to your leader in those situations! So I just stayed quietly behind Jin and tried to blend into the background!” she said.

Basically, she’d just used Jin as a shield. It’d been cold, but technically the right move.

“That’s cold.”

“Real cold.”

“Galatt and Mennas, you should’ve just stayed behind him too. Jin’s the only one of us with a title, even if it is just honorary. No one would’ve blinked if the rest of us commoners stayed in the back.”

“Ohh...” Galatt said.

Mennas nodded. “That makes sense.”

They’d decided that next time, Jin would be their representative—basically, he’d be their sacrificial lamb.

“Like hell I’m agreeing to that! I’ll make sure you get called on too next time!”

It sounded like Jin was determined not to be left holding the bag alone.

“All right, enough squabbling. You guys are gonna be even busier from now on,” I said. When none of them seemed to understand what I meant, I explained further. “You’re all single and you’ve got guaranteed titles and rewards coming, so you’ve already got plenty of prestige. The Dawnswords are now prime targets for unmarried nobles or merchant families looking for clout.”

That flustered Jin and Mennas while Galatt’s and Leena’s expressions turned sour.

“I’ve got a fiancée waiting back home,” Galatt said.

“Anyone wanting me as their wife would have to go through my family and their superiors, which is House Sanga. Any idiots would get weeded out. Plus, by the time I inherit a title, I’ll be a middle-aged woman. My stock isn’t worth much as a mere adventurer in comparison, so I don’t think I need to worry,” Leena said.

“Hm, maybe I don’t need to worry either,” Mennas said, looking relieved.

Her situation wasn’t exactly the same though. There were still plenty of people who might chase her just for the prestige. I didn’t bother pointing that out.

But what had struck me was what Galatt had said.

“Wait, you’re engaged?” I asked.

“Huh? Oh, right. I never told you. Yeah, I am.”

Apparently, when he had visited home a few years ago, his childhood friend—or rather, a girl he’d looked after as a kid—had confessed to him.

“When I left home about twenty years ago, she’d said, ‘Marry me when we’re grown up,’ but I thought she was joking, so I brushed it off. Turns out she wasn’t. She’s been waiting all this time and never dated anyone else, so we got engaged. I thought it was time for us to both settle down, given our ages.”

They’d had to put things off for various reasons, but now that the dungeon conquest was done and all, he was thinking of bringing her to Sagan.

“Just break it off already!” Jin said, sounding annoyed.

“Why she picked him, I’ll never understand,” Mennas said, looking thoroughly puzzled.

They said they both knew the woman in question.

“You said you looked after her when you two were young? How much older are you?” I asked.

“Ten years, I think.”

“And you were how old when you left home?”

“Fifteen.”

So, basically, Galatt had been proposed to by a five-year-old and had agreed to it.

“Uh... Jin, Mennas? Is that normal where you’re from?”

“Of course it’s not!” Jin exclaimed.

Mennas backed him up. “It’s a perfectly ordinary country town! Sure, it’s a pain when they try to use us as advertisements to draw in visitors, but our views on love and marriage are about the same as in the capital.”

For a second, I started to seriously question Galatt’s motives.

“If this happened today, I’d beat him half to death and straighten him out. But she’s twenty-four or twenty-five now. A grown woman. So while I might have my opinions about it, it’s too late to complain. If anything, he’s made her wait too long,” Jin said.

“Yep. If he were after a five-year-old now, I’d cut off his thing, bag it, and toss it in the deepest part of a dungeon! But this is ancient history now.”

Both of them sounded like they genuinely regretted missing those chances and made crushing gestures with their hands. Galatt went pale and darted behind me.

“I don’t care whether you cut it off, crush it, or burn it. Just do it somewhere else,” I told them. “If you start something in town, I’ll be the one who gets chewed out by the king.”

Whatever happened between the Dawnswords was their own business. I just wanted them to save it for somewhere less public.

I ignored the Galatt-shaped shadow behind me and looked at Jin. “So, when are you heading back to the dungeon for the hydra?”

“The sooner the better. Most of the materials are still just lying there. I doubt another adventurer could get down there and take them, but monsters from higher floors could destroy them.”

Hydras were venomous, and their poison was so potent that ingesting a little could kill a person. Some monsters could handle it though, and others might risk it if they were hungry enough.

“I wouldn’t care if they just ate the meat, but I don’t want anyone taking the hide or claws,” he added.

While the meat was the bulk of the materials, it was worthless except for poison work—losing it wouldn’t be a big deal. But missing out on the other valuable parts would be a considerable loss, so he wanted to get back there quickly.

“How about we leave tomorrow?” I suggested. “If I push Thunderbolt, we can make it to Sagan in three or four days. But if we’re rushing like that, that’d mean little rest and moving almost the whole day.”

If we cut daytime breaks short, we could get there in half the normal time. It’d be exhausting, but it’d be the best way to recover the materials.

“That’s fine.”

“In that case, you’re helping drive,” I said.

They agreed, so there were plenty of hands to manage the carriage. There was just one issue remaining, however...

“I’m coming too!” Amur said.

“If Lady Amur is going, I must come along as well,” Leni said.

“I’m curious myself,” Gramps said.

“If everyone else is going, I want in,” Jeanne said.

“Obviously, I’m coming too!” Aura said.

Amur and the rest of the gang wanted to tag along. I’d only been planning on taking Gramps since he was the only one who knew how to butcher a hydra. This was a personal job, and it was better to head to the dungeon’s bottom floor with a minimal crew. I explained that to the group, but they weren’t having it. Until...

“No need to worry. No unwanted pests will come sniffing around if I’m there!” Gramps said. Whatever he was hinting at was enough to make them finally give up.

“We’ll head out tomorrow morning. Going there and back should take about ten days,” I said.

Traveling would take four days each way. Then, it’d take one day to retrieve the hydra, and there’d be a day’s worth of buffer. If something unexpected came up, it’d take longer.

Everyone split up to get ready.

Part Four

“Man, traveling with you is easy. Comfortable, even.”

Exactly four days after we set out from the capital, we reached Sagan right on schedule. It was just barely before midnight, so we camped outside the city.

“Sure, we couldn’t get into the city, but we made it here in less than half the time it takes us on our own. And thanks to that detour, we’re eating like kings, so camping’s not a big deal,” Jin said.

The detour he’d mentioned had brought us near a river. The plan had been to eat lunch and take a short break before heading out again, but right before we left, I had spotted something.

“This turtle hotpot is delicious! And it’s supposed to be great for the skin. It’s a perfect meal!”

I’d found a whole group of turtles of various sizes, with the largest one easily being over two meters long and weighing over two hundred kilos. We had cooked up the smaller one, which had still been close to a meter long.

When I first saw the turtles, they had been piled up on the riverbank, sunning themselves. They had kept their eyes on their surroundings, and a few of them had slipped into the water when I’d gotten close, but more than ten had stayed put. While they’d been focused on me, I’d had Rocket sneak around behind them. He had scooped them all up in one fell swoop.

We had caught ten in total. Four were younger ones, still fifty centimeters across, but I let them go. The six we had kept had to weigh over five hundred kilograms altogether.

“They could’ve used a bit more rinsing, so there’s a slight muddy taste. But it works with enough spices.”

I was busy congratulating myself on how amazing my turtle hotpot had turned out and urged everyone to dig in. But come to think of it, maybe I wasn’t being the most considerate neighbor to the other camps nearby. I’d dumped a ton of spices into the dish to get rid of the muddy taste, and sure enough, the mouthwatering aroma had spread for miles. Every so often, I’d catch someone glancing over at us with irritated looks in their eyes, but no one was going to try anything with Shiromaru nearby and my family crest’s flag on the carriage. Anybody with bad intentions wouldn’t last long against this group anyway.

“Let’s turn in early and hit the dungeon first thing,” I suggested. “We’re right next to Sagan, and with a golem standing guard, we can all sleep at the same time.”

No one was likely to attack us here, and even if they did, a golem could handle it. It was more important that we all got enough rest for the bottom floor, so we decided against having someone stand watch.

“Rocket, Shiromaru, Solomon, you’re sleeping outside the bag tonight too.”

Three of my followers, plus a golem in place, made for an obvious deterrent. Shiromaru would notice if anyone approached.

“That should do it,” I said. “Well, I’m turning in.”

Gramps and Jin’s crew said they’d stay up for a while. The camp and the other groups around us were still noisy since they were up drinking, but that was pretty normal for this kind of stopover. It was loud, but not enough to keep me from falling right to sleep.

“It’s a good thing we brought Tenma along,” Jin said.

“No kidding.”

“If it were just us, we’d be dead for sure.”

“Honestly, it doesn’t take much imagination to see how that would’ve gone.”

As I worked, Jin and the rest of the Dawnswords quietly lined up and sat down formally on their knees.

“I’m afraid I’m not much help in this situation either,” Gramps said apologetically. He sipped some tea and sat comfortably in a chair he’d brought out himself.

The reason things had gotten to this point was basically because the hydra was starting to rot. It’d been about two and a half weeks since Jin and his team had killed the thing, but apparently, some kind of enzymes had accelerated its decay. By the time we came to recover it, its flesh had already half melted away. It reeked like death.

Rats were scurrying near its corpse, so I figured it wasn’t releasing any kind of poisons into the air...or at least nothing lethal. Still, just to be safe, we kept our distance and let my golems handle dismantling its corpse, which included peeling off its skin and removing the organs.

“From over here, the hide looks like it’s mostly intact. I thought it’d be more burnt to a crisp.” I said.

Based on their description of the battle, I’d expected the skin to be shredded up, but it turned out it only had a few burns, punctures, and slashes here and there. It was definitely still usable as a material. Jin and the Dawnswords looked just as confused as I was at the sight of it.

“It could’ve regenerated after it died,” Gramps suggested. “Hydra regeneration abilities are absurd. It might’ve still had some healing juice left in it even after losing its heart and core.”

Everyone nodded along to his theory.

We had seen something similar before, after all, when we had killed the bicorn that I’d eventually used to make Thunderbolt. When I’d cast Heal on its hide after it was dead, it’d actually erased the wounds. If a bicorn could respond to magic after death, then it wasn’t too far-fetched to think that a hydra, a creature with even stronger regeneration powers, could repair itself a bit postmortem.

As we talked about the hydra’s regeneration abilities, I had the golems spread its skin and organs out on the ground. I carefully washed away all of the muck, poisonous residue, and half-melted meat from them with Water magic.

The hydra’s heart, stomach, lungs, intestines, and bladder were still perfectly intact, but its kidneys and liver had already liquefied and were mostly gone. The venom sacs were still there, and very much full. Apparently, hydras had two such sacs. One was located in a cavity above the upper jaw, and the other was near the stomach. Considering this hydra had nine heads, it was more accurate to say there were ten venom sacs total—one for each head, and another near the stomach. They were connected by thin tubes so that when the venom in one of its upper jaws ran out, the one in its stomach would refill it.

“That’s pretty sticky and thick... Do you think this is undiluted poison? Gramps, there’s gotta be at least a hundred liters of this stuff. What should I even do with it?” I asked.

It wouldn’t be a big deal to dump a little of it out somewhere and flush it away with water. However, there was so much from this hydra that we’d have to evacuate the room to take care of it.

Gramps shrugged. “Beats me. Best I can think of is to dig a hole and pour it in little by little,” he said.

That wasn’t exactly helpful. Out of curiosity, I asked what he’d done back when he defeated his hydra. He told me that he had tried burning half of it, but he had freaked out and spilled the rest all over the floor. He’d ended up just leaving it there.

“The fumes nearly killed me. If I’d tried burning all of it at once, I probably wouldn’t be here to tell the tale,” he said, almost fondly.

All I could think of was that Ernest had told the truth when he’d said that Gramps used to be a total menace. Not that I mentioned that out loud, of course. Honestly, the fact that I had even considered burning small amounts of the stuff probably meant I was no better.

“Well, I’ll figure out what to do with it later. For now, I’ll just store it in smaller containers. Jin, you guys don’t want any of this stuff, right?” I asked, just to be sure.

After all, it would probably sell for a pretty penny. However, they shook their heads.

“It’s too risky,” Jin said. “Even if we’re not legally responsible for what someone does with it, our names might get dragged through the mud if it ever gets misused. It’s not worth the trouble.”

Hydra poison was rare and valuable, but I’d only ever sell it to someone that I knew I could trust completely. It’d need to be someone with a clear purpose and a clean background. Since I couldn’t think of anyone like that, it would be safer to just destroy it.

Once I’d finished washing off the hide and organs, I moved on to the rest of the body. I used a stronger water jet to blast off any leftover poison or rotting flesh, and then I chopped what was left into manageable pieces. I stuffed those into my magic bag.

If this were a regular monster, this would be the part where we’d throw a party and have a barbecue. But hydra meat was poisonous, so the standard procedure was to roughly butcher it and then either submerge the bones in water or bury them in dirt. The rest of the flesh would be left to rot naturally over time.

Gramps said that method also helped leech out the venom embedded in its bones. Hydras stored poison in their spinal cords and the porous parts of their bones too, so letting them sit long enough made them safe for crafting.

“It’s best to sell the bones with some meat still attached. A few people will complain, but that’s the easiest way to prove that they’re genuine hydra parts,” Gramps suggested.

I’d already washed off any surface poison off the bones, and as long as you didn’t have any cuts on your hands or hold one for too long, the poison wouldn’t do more than make you a little itchy. Still, clenching onto a bone for too long or taking a bite of some meat would kill you. Handle at your own risk!

“Well, that just leaves cleaning up the mess. I was thinking of poking around the area a bit afterward. You guys heading out now?” I asked. I wanted to check for any stray mythril in the area to use for new golems.

Jin said they’d already done a quick scan here earlier and wanted to go back to take care of weapon maintenance, so they were heading out. Gramps was hungry and wanted to go with them as well.

We agreed to meet up later at the apartment complex Amy’s family owned. I used to live there, but Jin and the Dawnswords were renting it out now. Gramps and I also got permission to park the carriage in the lot. We didn’t pick a specific time to meet up because we just had to regroup by tomorrow morning before departure. Until then, we were all free to do as we pleased.

“All right, then. Let’s get to it.”

I covered the puddles of blood and poison and the piles of half-rotten meat that’d been washed loose during cleanup with dirt. Then, I had the golems stomp it flat. It was a sloppy solution, but since only Jin, Gramps, and I could access this lowest floor right now, the toxins would likely break down long before any other adventurers showed up. As long as nobody went digging around in the contaminated soil, it should be fine.

“I was hoping I might get lucky and find some mythril, but it looks like it’s just iron here...”

The lowest floor was huge—big enough to fit several stadiums in it. That made sense, considering it had been the hydra’s lair.

“Still, there’s not a single creature down here other than bugs. What the hell was it eating?”

There was no way it had survived on just ambient mana alone. Something that big had to eat. Most likely, it had lured monsters down from the upper levels somehow, though nobody knew how dungeon monsters showed up in the first place.

“Ugh, thinking too hard about this is giving me a headache. Might be time to call it.”

I figured I’d take the proper route here next time instead of the backdoor method we had used today. I was just about to wrap things up when...

“Hmm, that looks suspicious.”

I noticed a pile of large rocks that looked just a little too intentional at the far end of the chamber. It could’ve been a coincidence, but on the other hand, it might’ve been the hydra’s nest.

I decided to check it out.

“Yeah, there’s definitely something under here...”

A rotting stench wafted out from beyond the stones. I could hear something moving on the other side too.

“These rocks are huge, and it’ll be a pain to move them. Not my problem, though...” I summoned five large golems and had them start clearing the rocks. Each one was big enough that it took multiple golems just to lift. Even the smallest of them probably weighed well over ten tons.

Once they had moved the last rock, I found a vertical shaft beneath them. I dropped a pebble in, and the sound echoed for quite a while. There was another massive chamber down there, or maybe a long passageway. Either way, it was something big.

“Guess I’ll see what’s down there.”

The shaft started almost completely vertical, but it gradually sloped into a gentle incline after about three or four meters.

“Okay, I got down here, but there are signs that something’s been moving around. Maybe I should go back and...”

Just as I was thinking I ought to head to the surface to get Gramps and Jin, I heard something coming my way from deeper in.

There were two distinct sounds. One was a dry clicking noise that sounded like clack, clack, clack, and the other one sounded like wet slapping. Squish, squish, squish. Both sounded like footsteps, but they were way slower than someone would ordinarily walk. Then, there was the smell.

I had a pretty good idea what was coming now.

“Fireball! Yep, skeletons and... Is that a zombie? I’m not sure...”

As I’d expected, one was a skeleton. The other thing kind of looked like a zombie, but something felt off.

I used the light of Fireball to use Identify on the thing.

Class: Golem (Rotting Flesh)

This was probably a golem that’d formed naturally from a mass of decaying meat. It was the first time I’d ever seen one, but honestly, I wasn’t all that curious to learn more.

“Maybe this is what the hydra was eating?” I wondered aloud as I hurled a Fireball at the golem in front. It went up in flames and collapsed in seconds. However, the stench hit me—it reeked, like rotting meat soaked in sewage. I decided to switch to Aircutter after that.

That spell didn’t quite pack the same punch as Fireball, but if I targeted their legs, I could stop them from walking. The golems were soft enough that the blades tore through them easily, and I could catch a few of them at once. I was prioritizing efficiency over power.

“I don’t care about the golems, but I’d like a few skeleton samples,” I thought out loud.

Both the golems and skeletons were shambling straight towards me with no tactics at all, so I focused my magic on the golems and let the skeletons come closer.

“Oof!” When the first one got within reach, I blasted its skull apart with Stone Bullet. I waited for its bones to collapse and grabbed its mana core. Once you yanked the core from a skeleton’s bones, it had to stop moving. They were really nothing to worry about if you knew how to handle them.

Still, every once in a while, a skeleton who was way stronger than the usual crew would appear. It wasn’t unusual to hear stories every few years about newbie adventurers getting wiped out or barely escaping from something like that.

“These ones don’t seem too strong, though.”

The skeletons here were unarmed and wore no armor. Their bones were brittle too. They looked weak enough to take down bare-handed, so that’s exactly what I did. I popped the cores out manually to keep them as intact as possible. It wasn’t exactly the safest method, but it was doable. And I needed them whole if I wanted to study them properly.

“And that’s ten. I think that’s good enough, so it’s time to clean up.”

Now that I’d collected a solid set of samples, I took the rest of the skeletons and golems out with magic.

“Airball!”

I launched an Airball that was just barely small enough to fit in the corridor, blasting the rest of them to the back wall. There sure were a lot of them. And while it felt a little wasteful to leave all those cores behind, the ones I picked up were low-grade junk, so it wasn’t worth the effort.

Besides, they’d probably respawn if I left them long enough. If I ever really needed more, I could always come back here.

“Guess I’ll grab a few golem cores too. Ugh...”

It was gross, but I figured it’d be smart to take some samples from the golems too. I used a skeleton’s femur to dig through the meaty piles of golems I had taken down earlier. With a pair of makeshift bone chopsticks, I picked out some cores.

I rinsed the golem cores with Water magic, wrapped them in some spare cloth from my bag, and kept them separate from the skeleton ones. As for the bones I’d used as tools, I just tossed them. They were too nasty to keep.

Once I finished collecting everything, I made sure not to forget the skeleton samples and floated back up to the higher floor that’d been the hydra’s.

“All right, now to close it all up.”

I had my golems I’d left on standby move the rocks back into place and then used Earth magic to seal it up. With that, there’d be no way those skeletons or golems were getting out.

“Hey! I’m heading back up now!”

I climbed up to the floor just above me and called out for Rocket and the others. They’d gone off to play while I was collecting the hydra parts. Well, it was more like Shiromaru and Solomon had just bailed on me because they couldn’t stand the stench. Rocket didn’t have a nose, so he stayed behind to babysit them. I couldn’t leave those two alone for even a few minutes, after all.

As I called their names, I used Detection to check their locations. All three of them were heading towards a warp point, and Rocket was probably leading them to it. At this rate, they’d get there before I did.

“Rocket, something’s come up. We’ve gotta tell Gramps and the others that... Whoa!”

Sure enough, they got there before I did. I jogged around a corner, and right in front of me was a humanoid monster with the head of a bull—a minotaur. I instinctively jumped back and got ready to cast a spell...but the thing was already dead. Blood trickled from its mouth.

Rocket wobbled apologetically behind it, and Shiromaru and Solomon looked way too pleased with themselves.

Unlike orcs, minotaurs were edible, but they were full of gristle, and the meat was tough as hell. They tasted awful to boot, so they weren’t exactly fine cuisine. That said, the tendons made decent materials for weapons and armor (and dried snacks for pets), and their hides, horns, and bones could all be used for various purposes. Minotaurs were rare Rank A monsters, and even their organs were sometimes sold for experiments.

“This is no time for practical jokes! Shiromaru, Solomon—no treats for you for a while!”

I stuffed the minotaur into my magic bag as I told them they were grounded. The two of them panicked, immediately lowered their heads, and began to whine.

“Rocket, something unexpected came up. We gotta get to the surface fast. I’m going to be running around looking for Gramps and the others, so get in the bag now. And Shiromaru, Solomon? If you want any treats again, you’d better get in too!”

The two of them dove for the bag at the same time...and got stuck.

“Sorry, Rocket, but could you...?”

Before I could even finish my sentence, Rocket absorbed both of them into his body. And since that meant he couldn’t fit in the bag anymore either, I ended up carrying him myself.

“There you are! Thank goodness!”

My first stop after leaving the dungeon was the adventurers’ guild. It made sense because it was where people went to drink and gossip, and since Agris, Gramps’s usual drinking buddy in Sagan, was probably there, it was the best place to check first. Sure enough, Gramps was there, and Jin and the others were drinking too. It saved me the trouble of searching further.

“Gramps, Jin, I’ve got something to ask. Can you come with me to the dungeon?”

They looked surprised, but they both got up without a word. A few half-drunk adventurers saw us and started making jokes, thinking something juicy was going on. But the moment I shot them a glare, they clammed up and backed off.

“So...Tenma?” Gramps said, breaking the silence once we were alone. “Why’d you bring us back here? You looked like you were angry back at the guild, but you’re not actually mad, are you?”

It seemed like he’d decided to ask me directly instead of waiting for Jin and the others to figure it out.

“Before I explain that, can I ask you something? Is it possible for there to be more than one dungeon in the same area?”

For a moment, Gramps looked at me like I was nuts, but once he realized what I meant, his face lit up. He grabbed my shoulders and shook me hard. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me you think this dungeon is one of them?!”

“Hey! Settle down, Gramps! Anyway, is it even possible for a dungeon to form inside another dungeon?” I asked.

“I’ve never heard of it happening,” he said, finally letting go of me. “Maybe if the conditions were just right, one could form right next to another, or even inside. But in that case, you’d think one would eventually get absorbed into the other...” He trailed off there, thinking it over. But then, he shrugged. “Well, it might be worth having Alex look into it. He might know something.”

Jin and the others didn’t know either. And if Gramps didn’t have an answer, there was no way they would.

I unsealed the vertical shaft and went back down, this time with Gramps and the others. We pushed deeper than I had earlier by myself, but all we found were more skeletons and rotting flesh golems. Other than that, there were just bugs and rats here—regular creatures, not monsters.

“Hmm. Yeah, there’s no doubt about it. This place isn’t part of the original dungeon,” Gramps said.

After wandering in there for about thirty minutes, we found another shaft leading farther down. Skeletons and rotting flesh golems were crawling up from it too, so chances were that the lower level had more of the same. But since we’d already located the dungeon core on the previous floor, Gramps was convinced that this shaft had to lead to a separate dungeon altogether.

“I’d like to keep going, but today’s not the day. We’re not prepared, and we shouldn’t go in until we are.”

We had no info, no supplies, and no plans to dive today, so after we checked out the next shaft, we decided to leave things as they were for now.

“Guess that means we’ll need to report this when we get back to the capital,” I said. “After that, we can see if there’s any precedent for something like this. Then comes the prep. Jin, I’m planning on making my way down on my own from the last cleared floor, but your party can start investigating whenever you want. Don’t wait on me.”

Adventurer etiquette said that I should resume from the point in the dungeon where I had last stopped and clear everything down to the bottom before doing any side dives, and I intended to do so. Because of that, I didn’t expect Jin’s group to wait for me, so I told him not to feel obligated to do so.

“Believe me, we wanna dive,” Jin said. “But exploring a new dungeon that you found before you got a chance to dive in yourself wouldn’t sit right with us. Besides, we can’t even move those rocks you sealed the shaft with.”

Even though the monsters we’d encountered so far had been weaker than the ones on the lowest floor of the original dungeon, that didn’t mean the lower levels of that dungeon would be the same. And knowing how dungeon monsters scaled, it wouldn’t be surprising if there were creatures even stronger than the hydra down there. Given that possibility, Jin decided it was safest to keep the vertical shaft sealed until next time.

We talked it through and made a decision.

“All right, once Oracion reaches the lowest floor, we’ll team up with the Dawnswords and start exploring together,” I said.

That was our plan.

Under normal circumstances, going from my last cleared floor to the bottom would take years, but Jin offered to lend me the maps his team had made while progressing. With those, I figured I could get there in under a year. They’d wait until then.

They weren’t doing this to be polite—they had already planned on taking a long break after conquering the dungeon. They needed it. Things were bound to get noisy for them for a while anyway, what with all the attention.

Still, knowing Jin, I had a feeling they wanted to keep going, but they were using that as an excuse to wait for me.

“I’ve got my engagement announcement in four months,” I said. “I’ll make sure to reach the bottom by then.”

“Most people can’t clear dozens of floors in four months, not even with a map and full intel. But you’re not most people. Plus, you’ve got Master Merlin.”

Basically, as long as Gramps and I were involved, nobody was going to question it. Jin even joked that if anyone complained, he’d just tell them I made it to the bottom with a couple of pointers from the Dawnswords and a whole lot of freakish talent.

“Well then, time to head back to the capital.”

“About that...” Jin began. “Tenma, you’ll be the one reporting this to the king. You’re the one who discovered the dungeon. We’re happy just being allowed to join the first official dive.”

The rest of the Dawnswords nodded in agreement, but I gave them a look.

“Please. You’re just saying that because you don’t want to get grilled by the king again, yeah?” I said.

They all nodded in unison.

Fair enough.

Reporting a new dungeon meant that you had to stand not just before the king, but before half the nobles at court too. Jin’s group wasn’t used to dealing with that kind of crowd, and I couldn’t blame them. Gramps and I could handle the report.

To be honest, I didn’t want to because it was going to be a hassle. But with allies like Duke Sanga and Marquis Sammons on my side, I wasn’t too worried.

I gave in easily. “Fine, I’ll take care of the report. But you’re still coming to the capital with us. The king might want to hear from you directly.”

“We figured as much. Just try to keep us out of the spotlight, would you?” Jin pressed his hands together like he was praying. Galatt and the others all bowed their heads too.

“I’ll do what I can,” I said. “But when the king decides he wants to do something, he does it. Don’t be surprised if he just drops by unannounced to see you.”

They’d just have to live with that possibility if they were staying at my place. When I pointed that out, Jin and Galatt immediately started talking about finding an inn instead.

Leena cut in and said, “If we move into an inn now, it’ll look like we’re avoiding the king. That’ll be even worse for us.”

So in the end, they decided to stay put. Honestly, Leena had a point. It would come off like they were running away. The king probably wouldn’t care, but some stuck-up noble might throw a fit over it.

As we headed to the nearest warp point, Gramps glanced over to me. “So, Tenma, did you find anything useful besides the new dungeon?”

I told him there wasn’t anything particularly rare on the lowest floor.

“Hm. If a hydra made its nest down there, you’d think there’d at least be some mythril...” he said.

“I didn’t find any, but Shiromaru and the others did take down a minotaur. One that size showing up in a dungeon is weird, you know? I wonder what’s going on down there?”

Gramps looked like he was still annoyed about the lack of mythril, but the moment I brought up the minotaur, he pushed the thought aside. “Haven’t heard of those in a while. Tough meat, sure, but the materials are great. And those tendons have saved my life more than once,” he said.

Apparently, back in the day, some adventurers used to bring strips of dried minotaur tendons with them on long trips as emergency rations. They had no flavor and were nearly impossible to chew, but if you gnawed on them like gum, it’d take the edge off your hunger. You could also throw them in a pot and simmer them for hours to soften them up and make them into a stew, but doing that mid-journey wasn’t recommended. Even then, the taste was still terrible, so it wasn’t something you’d want to eat unless you really had no other choice.

“I have no idea where that thing came from, but they’re a pain to encounter in a dungeon. If one parks itself in a narrow corridor, it’s impossible to get behind it because they’re so big.”

A minotaur wouldn’t be a problem with Jin and the others working together, but if it blocked a hallway and they had to face it head-on, they’d have a tough time. Those things were built like fortresses and hit like battering rams.

“Still, it was a lucky break to get some usable materials out of it,” Gramps said.

He was right. I was a bit disappointed I didn’t get any mythril, but scoring minotaur parts was a nice bonus. Honestly, Shiromaru and Solomon probably earned themselves a full snack buffet just for that. Well, it’d have to wait until they’d done a little more reflecting, of course.

“So, Tenma,” Mennas began, “if you wanted to show us the new dungeon, why the angry act back at the guild?”

“Oh, that? Well, think about it. If I stormed off looking all pissed, everyone was just gonna assume Jin or Galatt pulled something. Doing that meant that nobody’d start wondering if we found something in the dungeon.”

If I’d said anything about a new dungeon at the guild, the whole place would’ve gone nuts. Word would’ve spread instantly, and the staff would’ve insisted on a full escort to verify it. It’d be even worse if some idiot had gotten the bright idea to go diving straight to the bottom to claim it first.

Jin and the others had originally asked me to help out because they hadn’t wanted guild staff heading down to the lowest floor, and they also hadn’t wanted adventurers to die needlessly. Honestly, I think any adventurer who bit off more than they could chew down there only had themselves to blame, but if the goal was to avoid a mess, keeping quiet was the best move.

Anyway, so in this case, we’d report it to the king first and make a proper plan.

“Yeah, I get that,” Mennas said with a frown. “Still, it doesn’t feel great.”

She clearly didn’t love the idea that the other adventurers probably thought I was dragging them out of there to yell at them. It wasn’t exactly a rare occurrence, after all. I hadn’t scolded her or Leena that often, but as for Jin and Galatt, I’d made them kneel down or buried them in the ground... There’d been plenty of attention-grabbing punishments. So if I stormed out with them in tow, it was a safe bet that everyone had assumed they’d screwed up.

“Blame Jin and Galatt. They’ve earned that reputation,” I suggested. “Anyway, let’s get back up top and prep to leave. I still want to head out tomorrow morning like we planned.”

We could’ve rushed out tonight, but the sun was almost setting. While it was important to report a new dungeon, it wasn’t so urgent that we had to push ourselves. It was best to stick to the schedule.

Gramps and the others agreed with me, and they were already chatting about where we’d go for dinner and drinks. Hopefully none of them planned on getting drunk tonight, but either way, I figured I should say something before things got too lively.

“Oh, right. What part of the hydra did you want again, Tenma?” Jin asked. It looked like he suddenly seemed to remember that on the way to the warp point.

I’d been eyeing the hide, but there wasn’t enough to go around. Bones were a decent second choice, but I changed my mind and decided I wanted the tendons. They weren’t all that useful compared to the other parts, but I figured I would get a lot of them, considering how massive the hydra was.

“That’s all? We don’t use bows, so we have no use for the tendons. And the king didn’t want them either. Go ahead and help yourself.”

I wasn’t about to take all of them, but I figured I’d offer to pay something in return. Depending on how things went with the king, I could end up with a pretty good haul.

“Tenma, you’re not planning on eating the tendons, are you?” Gramps asked, looking genuinely concerned.

Jin and the others must’ve wondered the same thing, because they shot worried looks at me too.

I didn’t actually know whether hydra tendons were poisonous or not, but considering they ran through most of its body, it was probably safer not to try. Then again, maybe they were like puffer fish—something that was technically poisonous, but could be tasty if you processed it right...

No, no. That’s something to test quietly and alone...for science.

“Of course not,” I said.

“Tenma, I don’t believe you. If you must try it, fine. But just don’t use me as your test subject...not even by mistake!” Gramps yelled.

He saw right through me and threw in a condition. Jin and the others silently stepped back and nodded.

“I said, I wouldn’t! Still, things like braised beef tendon and beef tendon soup are really good, right? Hypothetically, I mean.”

As soon as those words came out of my mouth, Gramps and the others took two full steps back with their eyes still fixed on me.

Yeah, I was definitely going to serve them beef tendon stew while they were still staying over. I could already imagine their reactions, and just thinking about it put a grin on my face.

Apparently, that smile gave me away, because when I looked up, they were even farther away from me than before.

“All right, enough messing around. Let’s get back up to the surface,” I said. “I’m starving.”

With that, I headed for the warp point, while the others followed at a cautious distance.

Honestly, I really was getting hungry. All that talk about tendons had me craving stew. I made up my mind that I was going to order whatever simmered or slow-cooked dish was on the menu tonight, no matter what.

Part Five

I went to the castle to inform the king about the newly discovered dungeon. Once I got there, I was ushered into the throne room right away to explain everything to him and the other nobles who worked at the castle.

“Thank you for your report,” the king said once I was done.

It didn’t take long to go over things, so I would’ve loved to leave right after. However, the king started pondering something, and the nobles got excited at the thought of another economic boom—like what had happened with the new dungeon in the SAR. No one was giving me permission to leave, but I was seriously considering just sneaking out.

“I have one question. Do you think this dungeon could enrich the capital’s economy the way the one in the SAR did?” Prince Zane asked coolly.

“Honestly, I doubt it,” I replied. “It seems more likely it would cost you money.”

The dungeon I’d discovered in the SAR was inside a mountain—stuffed to the brim with valuable ore like magic iron, mythril, iron, copper, and silver. It might’ve been a mine or something beforehand. On top of that, the site happened to be on land managed directly by Lady Hana, so they had been able to take control of it right away. That meant they could monopolize its resources, and all the profits went directly to revitalizing the SAR.

On top of that, Lady Hana had sealed everything below the fifth floor and put strict limits on what adventurers could take out, which meant the economic boom was expected to last a long time. She’d deliberately left the first four floors open to draw in rookie adventurers since they were low-risk, and that brought a steady stream of people into the SAR. By limiting how many resources could be removed from the dungeon, it wasn’t worth it for veterans to go in there anymore, and anyone caught smuggling materials out without permission would be treated as criminals.

Adventurers also had to pay an entry fee, but in return, they got training in mining techniques and dungeon safety. Plus, they got to keep part of whatever they excavated. In other words, it had become one of the kingdom’s most unusual dungeons as it was tailored specifically to beginners.

When Hana had sealed the lower floors, the royal family had sent a letter questioning her motives. They’d suspected she’d move to declare independence, or thought that she had even been planning a coup d’état. However, she had responded that the dungeon sat on land directly controlled by her family, that it was in a remote location, and that the seal was to protect the environment. She’d told them that since the dungeon was small, opening it completely would immediately exhaust its resources. Her reasoning had been sound, and since the effects of the economic boom had already begun to reach the capital, the king had accepted her explanation.

Still, there were plenty of nobles who didn’t like the idea of Lady Hana’s house hogging all the profits. And most of the ones who’d made a fuss over it were in the chamber with us right now.

“The biggest difference between the dungeon in the SAR and the new one in Sagan is how dangerous it is,” I said. “The one in the SAR is shallow and safe enough that even rookie adventurers can bring back some resources. However, the new dungeon in Sagan is so dangerous that right now, the only people who can even get in are the Dawnswords, Gramps, and me. And even if there are useful resources inside, there’s a limit on how much we can haul out.”

I figured the nobles would interject with something like Then we’ll just have one of you take us there!

And sure enough, some of them started saying that out loud, but I had my comeback ready to go.

“Are you serious? If you ordered us to do that, if something went wrong, it could destroy the entire kingdom.”

Massive dungeons like the one in Sagan weren’t places you could just buy your way into. To adventurers, the lowest levels were priceless treasures. That was exactly why it was so unusual that Jin and the others had taken me to the bottom floor—most people would never consider doing that. Some might say I was reckless for accepting their offer, but...I counted that as part of my reward. At least, that’s how I framed it. I’d already decided that the next time I set foot on the bottom floor, it would be through my own efforts. That first time had been a kind of bonus round. I explained it that way to Jin and the others afterward, and they had begrudgingly accepted it...more or less.

Anyway, the point was that if nobles used their authority to force their way down there, it’d be no different from them stealing adventurers’ rightful spoils. And this was the lowest floor of the kingdom’s largest dungeon we were talking about. The fallout would be incredible. Adventurers from all over the realm might start rebelling against the crown. If that happened, I couldn’t say for sure that even I would continue cooperating with the royal family like I’d been up to this point. At the very least, I’d treat any noble outside of my own circle of friends as a potential enemy if it were to come to that.

And it wasn’t just me. Other adventurers who thought the same way might pack up and leave the kingdom. If they ended up in the Empire, that would significantly weaken this land. In fact, when the incident at Kukuri Village drove a large number of adventurers out of the Haust margravate, the house had nearly collapsed financially. Maybe saying that adventurers could destroy the entire kingdom sounded extreme, but a decline in adventurer cooperation could definitely weaken a nation’s power. If the Empire saw that weakness, invasion and collapse weren’t out of the question.

Of course, all that was just my own personal speculation, but since I’d actually been partly responsible for the margravate’s decline, my words carried weight. The commotion in the throne room started to quiet down. It wasn’t just because of my argument either. The king, Prince Caesar, Duke Sanga, and Marquis Sammons were all staring daggers at the noisy nobles.

“You’re right about that risk,” Prince Zane began. “Up until now, the crown has placed no restrictions on the dungeon in Sagan. That’s because when it was first discovered, its sheer scale made it seem impossible to conquer. The royal family prioritized drawing in as many adventurers as possible to spend their money rather than worrying about resource loss. But now, if we suddenly imposed restrictions and stripped adventurers of their rights, all because of a new dungeon, that would only backfire on us.”

The nobles who’d been causing a racket fell silent.

“On the other hand, if you were to conquer Sagan’s dungeon, then no one could object if you later drew resources from the new one. Not even the royal family,” Prince Zane said.

In other words, if the nobles were to use their authority to conquer the dungeon and immediately plunder the new one, the crown would step in. But if they employed adventurers as middlemen, the royal family would have no grounds to interfere.

“Of course, that’s assuming you’d even have the ability to conquer it, or could gather enough adventurers to try,” Prince Zane added under his breath, too quietly for the nobles to hear.

He was right. Reaching the bottom was the key. The Dawnswords were the official conquerors of the original dungeon, and they had ties to the royal family through me. Gramps and I could reach the bottom and were also aligned with the crown. No other noble had any way of getting there right now. And I was confident I’d reach the bottom myself and secure intel on the new dungeon before they ever did.

Duke Sanga spoke up then. “Your Majesty, might I suggest you let Tenma retire for now? Surely he’s exhausted since he came straight here from discovering the dungeon.”

“Of course. Tenma, you’ve done well today. You and the Dawnswords will be rewarded. You may go,” the king said.

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

I had finally been given permission to leave. I was just about to rush home the moment I stepped out of the throne room, but Aina had been standing by the door. Before I knew it, she was dragging me straight to Queen Maria.

“This way, Master Tenma. The queen is waiting.”

“Oh, hey, Tenma. Long time no— Huh? Where are you taking me?!”

I had spotted a certain handsome guy who was the perfect person to come with me, so I’d grabbed his arm before he could slip away. After I did that, I realized something unpleasant.

“When did you get so tall, Tida?” I asked.

He was the same height as me now, or maybe even taller. Just a year ago, I’d been taller than him.

“My brother’s being hauled away! Has his harassment of poor Amy finally caught up to him? Just kidding, sorry!”

While I was still shocked by Tida’s growth, Luna, someone who hadn’t grown at all, popped up and teased him. She ducked behind Aina before he could yell at her. Somehow, that made me feel a little better.

“So, Tenma? Where are we going?” Tida asked.

“The queen wants to see me. I ran into you, so I figured you could suffer along with me.”

“That’s not a good reason,” Tida muttered, but he reluctantly followed along.

Luna looked panicked and spun around, trying to flee.

Tida snagged her. “Luna, since Tenma was nice enough to invite us, we should go say hello. Aina, will you make sure Luna comes with us to see Grandmother? Don’t let her get away,” he said, handing her off to Aina.

“Queen Maria, Master Tenma, Prince Tida, and Princess Luna are here to see you.”

“Oh, Tida and Luna too? Well, come in.” The queen seemed a little surprised to see the siblings as well, but she invited us in right away.

“Pardon the intrusion, Queen Maria.”

“Sorry to summon you like this, Tenma,” the queen said. “Please have a seat, everyone. You too, Tida. Luna, sit down.”

Tida and I sat down where the queen indicated, but Luna left an empty space between us. The queen noticed and whispered something to Aina, and the latter slipped out of the room.

For a while, the queen and I just chatted. She told me about the king’s latest blunders, Prince Lyle’s trips to taverns and such, rumors about Ernest possibly being senile, and so on. It was definitely entertaining, but none of it explained why she had wanted me here. I was just about to ask why she had really wanted to see me when there was a knock at the door.

“Here they are. Come in,” the queen said.

Aina had returned with someone else.

“I hear you ditched your studies again. Would you like to explain yourself?”

Princess Isabella was here. I’d suspected from Luna’s suspicious behavior that something was up, but honestly, I was so used to it I couldn’t be surprised.

Luna tried excuse after excuse, but Princess Isabella destroyed every last one. In the end, Luna was dragged away to the library in despair.

“Finally, some peace and quiet,” the queen said. “Now then, the reason I’ve called you here, Tenma, is because— Oh, wait, before we begin, I realize I haven’t told Tida about this particular matter yet. Do you mind if he stays and listens?”

That comment let me immediately know that she was talking about my engagement to Primera. I’d seen Tida and Luna since it’d happened, but as the subject had never come up, they clearly didn’t know yet.

“I don’t mind Tida knowing. Luna, on the other hand...”

“She’d definitely leak it sooner or later, knowing her, even if she didn’t mean to. Very well, then.” The queen then became very stern and serious. “Tida, what I’m about to tell you is a royal secret. It’s a serious, vital matter and not to be spoken of. If you don’t think you can abide by this, then please leave now.”

Tida blinked with surprise at her tone and then quickly straightened in his chair, ready to listen.

The queen nodded, looking satisfied. “Tida, Tenma has recently become engaged to Lady Primera, Duke Sanga’s third daughter. This must remain a secret until the duke’s New Year’s party. If word leaks from within the royal family, both House Sanga and House Otori will lose trust in us. Do you understand?”

“Y-Yes, I understand!” He nodded, eyes wide at the news of my engagement.

Now, that left Luna as the only royal in the dark, or so I thought. But just in case...

“Is Luna the only one who doesn’t know? What about Prince Lyle?” I asked.

The queen frowned when she realized she wasn’t sure, so she sent Aina in to fetch him. If the prince didn’t know, that would mean that Queen Maria was lumping him in the same category as Luna.

“Of course I’ve been told, Mother.” Lyle looked a bit on edge when he walked in with Aina, but as soon as the queen pressed him about any secrets he knew about me, he whispered the right answer back to her and then relaxed.

“I thought so. Sorry, Lyle. You may go. And whatever else that you’re hiding... Well, just don’t make me worry too much,” she said with a gentle smile.

Prince Lyle managed a strained grin before rushing out again.

“Tenma, why the sudden engagement?” Tida asked, still looking surprised. I explained what’d happened yet again—honestly, it was worth repeating if it meant having another ally to keep Luna in check.

“Well, considering your ties with Duke Sanga, I suppose it makes sense, even though it’s a bit sudden. Congratulations.” He seemed to know not to pry further. However, there was something else he had no hesitation in asking about. “Anyway, what was the new dungeon like?”

The queen looked like she wanted to hear about it too, though she did frown a bit at Tida’s overexcitement. Still, she stayed quiet.

“It wasn’t the treasure trove the nobles were hoping for. At least, not on the lowest floor where the hydra was, nor near the new entrance.” I said it more like a report to the queen than an answer for Tida.

She asked me questions about the resources inside, but Tida only wanted to hear about the skeletons and rotting flesh golems.

“It doesn’t really make sense that only weak monsters would appear beneath the lowest floor of a dungeon,” Tida said.

“Maybe,” I replied. “Still, if you tried to get there, you’d get stuck at the entrance, Tida. No matter how weak they are, an army that doesn’t fear death is terrifying. And if you run into enemies like that, or even if you think you might, you have to be ready to pull back the moment things look bad. Especially you, Tida. If a battle breaks out in the future, you’ll be the one leading, right?”

“You’re right. I’ll be careful. But how do you fight when retreat isn’t an option?”

It was a good thing that he wasn’t too proud to ask a question like that. But he still did have a stubborn streak, just like Luna.

I thought back on it. I’d only truly been trapped like that twice. The more useful example was what had happened in Kukuri Village, so I told him that story. The other time had been with the fight with the lich, but since I’d won that one with my raw magical power, it wasn’t something that could help Tida.

“So basically, either you throw up a makeshift barricade or fight from outside their reach. Sounds simple...but it’s not that easy, huh?” Tida said.

“More or less. But if you can manage that, then you’re not just handling skeletons or rotting golems. You’ll be able to fight things way tougher than that. But you’ve also gotta make sure everyone fulfills their roles properly, and make sure that they’re trained so they can adapt when things go sideways.”

If students were forming parties, Tida’s group would naturally attract top-tier kids like Amy. Not that the academy would ever let them do something actually dangerous. He wasn’t going to gain that kind of experience while he was still enrolled in school.

“I should get going, Queen Maria. Jin and the others are waiting for me,” I said.

“Right. I’ve kept you for far too long. Aina, please escort Tenma out. And take the rest of the day to enjoy yourself while you’re at it.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The queen told Aina to take the rest of the day off, but Aina’s answer sounded kind of stiff. That didn’t surprise me, because the only thing waiting for her when she had time off was training Jeanne and Aura.

“Eek! Tenma, why’d you bring her here?! H-Hey, wait!”

When we returned to the house, Aura caught sight of Aina at the door and started screaming. Aina just sighed and dragged her into the dining room.

“Hey, Tenma. Sorry for making you take care of all that.”

I followed them into the dining room and found Gramps, Jin, Amur, Leni, and a full-on feast in progress. I guessed this was probably a celebration for discovering the new dungeon.

“Thanks for having us.”

Primera and the three noble idiots were also here. The idiots were stuffing their faces as usual while Primera sat there awkwardly, looking like she hadn’t been enjoying herself at all with them being so rowdy in my absence.

“Gramps gave them permission, right? Don’t worry about it,” I said. “That’s just how they always are. Letting them act so familiarly in public is a way of showing I’m on good terms with the next generation of the royalists. At least I think so.”

I wasn’t positive about Leon, but at least Albert and Cain knew what they were doing. Some people still wouldn’t get it, but once my engagement to Primera was made public, even the dumbest noble would understand. That meant the three noble idiots would only get away with this kind of thing until the announcement. Then again, knowing them, they’d keep showing up and making noise even after that.

“Primera, things are going to get hectic for me until our engagement gets announced. I’ll probably be really busy. It’s not like we won’t see each other at all, and you won’t have to handle everything either, but I’ll still be causing you some trouble,” I said.

Over the next four months, I planned on conquering the new dungeon and making Primera’s golem. Preparing for our engagement announcement would largely end up as her responsibility, along with the duke’s family.

“I understand. Honestly, I’ll probably end up leaving most of it to my father, so I don’t have any room to be upset about that either,” she said.

Apparently, Duke Sanga was already charging ahead with the preparations, so Primera didn’t have much to do on her own. And since we were set to marry within the year, she had her hands full getting the knight brigade units up and running and handling the handover.

“It seems like the queen is more fired up than even me or Gramps. I told Tida about the engagement, but we’re keeping it from Luna,” I said.

“You are? Well, I guess she might let it slip, but even if she did, I don’t see how that would give the other nobles any leverage.”

I agreed, but I figured the queen just wanted to be thorough.

“Yeah, it’s not fair to Luna, but it’s Queen Maria’s call. There’s nothing we can do.”

When the highest authority in the royal family made a decision, no one could defy her—not me, Primera, or even Duke Sanga himself. And since there was nothing we could do about it, there was no sense in irritating the queen.

“I’m going to go ahead and take a bath first,” I told her, and started to get up. “Enjoy the party, or well, at least try to, even though Albert’s here.”

I’d planned to relax and take a bath in peace, but the moment I got into the water, the door slammed open.

“Tenma, drink with us!”

“Yeah, we brought plenty of snacks!”

Gramps and Jin had barged in, both already drunk. The rest of the guys followed them with arms loaded with booze and food.

“So you all just moved the feast into the bathroom...” I muttered.

Drinking alcohol in the bath wasn’t that safe, but it would take a lot more than that to kill this group. I just needed to keep an eye on Albert and Cain. And maybe Gramps, just in case.

“C’mon, let’s have another round!”

“That’s enough, Albert. Here, have some water instead.”

With a flushed face, Albert tried to pour another cup, but I shoved a glass of water in his hand instead. He accepted it obediently—maybe he knew he was at his limit.

“It’s funny how we split off into our own little groups.”

As the drinking party went on, the crowd had naturally divided into me and Albert, Cain with Galatt, and Gramps, Jin, and Leon. Albert and I weren’t best bros or anything—it was more like we were just the leftovers from the other groups. Gramps was close to both guys he was hanging out with. Cain and Galatt were an unexpected pairing, but they seemed to be hitting it off. Curious, I leaned in closer to eavesdrop.

“That’s why when you bleed something, you half kill it and hang it upside down. If the heart’s not beating, the blood won’t flow right,” Galatt said.

“What if you can’t string it up?” asked Cain.

“Then you dig a pit next to it and drain into that. If you can’t dig a hole, you just let it spill and accept losing the bottom half. Better that than tainting the whole thing.”

“Would that work on people too?”

“Sure, if the anatomy’s similar enough,” Galatt reasoned. “But be careful. Some folks never come back from learning something like that.”

Their talk was gory enough to turn my stomach. It seemed like Galatt’s knowledge and Cain’s curiosity were a perfect match.

“Yeah, that’s enough of that,” I said. “Let’s get out.”

I was feeling queasy, so I dragged Albert out of the bath. Cain and Galatt followed soon after, though.

“Then, when the hydra got weak enough, I swooped in and hacked its head clean off!”

“When I fought one, I sliced it, diced it, and burned it with magic until nothing remained!”

“Amazing! I’d love to take down a hydra myself, just once!”

The musclehead brigade was too busy bragging to each other to notice the four of us leave.

“Is it just me, Tenma, or are they just repeating themselves?” Cain asked.

He was right. If my memory was right, they’d already told the same story three or four times tonight.

“Looks like it. It might be best to drag them out by force...”

Given how drunk they were compared to us, this was our only option. I ended up getting stuck with Gramps while Galatt took Jin, and Albert and Cain took Leon. Unfortunately, trying to drag some half naked drunks out of the bath by force was a surefire way to get something I didn’t want pressed up against me, if you know what I mean, and I’d rather pass on that. So instead, I brought in the wooden golems we used to clean the bath and had them haul those drunks out instead. The rest of us just gave the golems a hand.

“Tenma, do you think it’s fine to leave Leon and the others back there?”

“They’ll be fine,” I said. “We confiscated their booze, made them drink a ton of water, and I told the golems to drain the bath and throw them out if they tried sneaking back in. The only place left for them to go is the dining hall.”

We’d gotten Gramps and the others out of the bath, forced clothes on them, poured water down their throats, and left them behind. I had even taken Gramps’s magic bag—if they wanted more to drink, they’d have no choice but to return. And if they didn’t, I’d just check on them later.

We left them there and went back to the dining room.

“Whoa! Do you smell that?”

A thick, sweet scent smacked us in the face. Well, it was better than the suffocating stench of alcohol that had filled the steamy bathroom. This was technically healthier.

“All right, then. Shall we get started?”

The women stood in front of me, looking more than a little guilty.

“I just made this whole batch the other day!” I yelled. “How the hell did you... No, never mind. I know that you can definitely eat that much.”

The mountain of sweets I’d prepared had been nearly wiped out during the girls’ gathering the previous day. I’d expected them to snack, sure, but I thought the treats I’d made would last a month. Instead, they were gone in hours.

“We’re gonna need some sweets when we head into the dungeon, and for when guests come. Make the same amount as last time. No, more! If Leni decides you’ve made more than we need, then you can split whatever’s left over between yourselves. That’s the deal.”

The mood shifted the moment I permitted them to keep the extras. Amur and Aura were especially pleased.

All the girls here, except Primera, had participated in the gathering the day before, but they all agreed to help anyway. Albert, Cain, and Galatt also agreed to help in exchange for samples. Meanwhile, Gramps, Jin, and Leon got stuck with bath duty under Aina’s supervision while the sweets were being made. Aina had gotten roped into eating too many sweets the day before and must’ve been feeling bad about it—when I asked her to oversee Gramps’s group, she agreed immediately. She seemed really enthusiastic about it too.

Of course, it wasn’t just Aina who’d overindulged. Aura was at least half to blame since she kept shoving sweets at her to stay on her good side. I told Aina not to beat herself up about it, but knowing her personality, I knew she’d never let it go.

“Should I salute their noble sacrifice?” I muttered under my breath, but the crash of a broken dish cut off my train of thought, and I forgot all about it. “Well, it’s just a plate, it’s fine. Be careful not to injure yourselves.”

“Sorry...”

“My bad...”

I warned Aura and Amur to be more careful, and after they looked sufficiently apologetic, I headed back to my room. It was time to work on the golems.

“I got some new materials, and some interesting ones at that. I might as well start again from step one,” I said to myself.

I hadn’t really gotten that far before anyway, so it wasn’t much work to start over. In fact, I thought it might even go faster with such good reference material on hand.

“I never thought those skeletons from the dungeon would come in handy.”

The golem I was making for Primera would have a core frame, like human bones, that would be encased in armor. I still wasn’t sure if having an actual human-shaped skeleton (whether the skeleton monsters had once been human or not) was the perfect model, though.

“And then there’s this... Hydra tendons!”

We’d dismantled the hydra on the way back to the capital, and I’d salvaged the tendons I thought I could use.

“First, I’ll stretch the thick strands down to size and run them through the frame.”

It was difficult to work with them, but hydra tendons were insanely strong, even when stretched out. They wouldn’t snap even if I was rough with them, so I managed.

After I threaded the golem’s skeletal frame together with the tendons, I started wrapping the thinner strands around the core like connective tissue. I fixed them in place like bandages.

“This looks more like a skeleton...or maybe a mummy.”

Because of all the strips of tendons, it looked nothing like a golem right now.

“Okay, let’s slap on some temporary armor and see...”

I formed some plates with earth magic and strapped them onto it. It no longer looked like a monster and finally resembled a golem. The armor I’d made was tough as stone since it was hardened earth, but it wouldn’t last in actual combat. The golem’s own power would probably smash it apart.

“I’ll make a second set like this and take it to Kelly. She can craft armor to fit it. In the meantime, I’ll start building the real thing.”

My plan was for Kelly to forge proper armor from mythril or magic iron. She could use this mock-up as a reference.

With that, I called it a day and went back to the dining room.

“Oh, wow.”

I’d only been gone a few hours, but the dining room had turned into a full-blown sweets factory. Aina was running the show. Apparently, she had finished supervising the bath cleanup crew and had come here.

“Aina’s in charge, Primera’s on baked goods. Jeanne and Aura are handling the batters, and Albert and Cain are on pancake duty. Amur and Leni are helping with toppings and anything else the bakers need. Galatt, Mennas, and Leena are sorting the finished goods. And then Gramps, Leon, and Jin are sitting down, waiting for dishes that need to be washed... This is pretty efficient,” I commented.

The production line was perfectly balanced. Primera was serious, so she was great at managing the timing of the baked goods. Jeanne and Aura were used to cooking, so they made and measured the batter. Albert and Cain were good at working in sync, so they managed the pancake station well. Amur got bored easily, so they had stuck her on a nonessential task like putting toppings on the sweets, and Leni covered for Amur wherever she slacked off. Galatt and Mennas had never made sweets before, so Leena, being more experienced, gave them orders. They would move the finished sweets to a place where they wouldn’t get in the way and then sort them. And since Aina was great at directing and assisting, she was in charge of it all. The three who didn’t have any useful skills to contribute were on dirty dish duty.

“Aina must’ve divvied up the tasks herself, but damn, this is perfect. Especially how she made those three sit and wait.”

Since baking sweets was such a detail-oriented process, there was no way Gramps, Jin, or Leon would’ve been any help. And they definitely couldn’t handle sorting either. Galatt and the others might sneak bites here and there, but at least they had the dexterity and common sense to do the job. Anyway, that left dishwashing as the only task Gramps and the other two could be trusted with. The problem was that if those three had free time, they’d inevitably cause trouble. That was why Aina had them sitting idle now. They seemed to have learned their lessons after getting a taste of her wrath during bath duty...or at least enough that they’d keep their mouths shut now and obey.

“Master Tenma, we’ve finished double the number of sweets that were eaten yesterday. Now, everyone’s making the kinds they personally need,” Aina explained. “And this here is your portion. Please accept it.”

“Oh, thanks.”

I was about to say, Isn’t that enough already? but Aina’s eyes sparkled with determination. She looked so intimidating that she kept me from saying anything further. The other women clearly had no intention of slowing down either. Though they’d noticed me, their hands never stopped moving. The men kept sneaking glances my way, though.

“Aina, I’m heading over to Kelly’s for a bit!” I said.

Yeah. I pretended not to notice. It’s not like there was anything for me to do here anyway, and I’d planned on visiting Kelly soon anyway. I was just moving it up a bit in my schedule.

“So you escaped to my place, huh? Well, you know you’re always welcome here!”

Kelly had looked exasperated at first, but the moment I showed her the box of assorted sweets I’d brought with me, she started singing a different tune.

“Well, that’s not the only reason I’m here. I actually came to show you how this turned out. Yeah, that’s the story I’ll go with,” I said with a grin.

Kelly took one look at the golem, which had been fitted with temporary armor, and handed the box of sweets to one of her staff members without a word. She began inspecting the golem from various angles.

“So you need three full sets of armor this size?” she asked.

“Yeah, that’s fine for this type of golem. But I’ll need you to make one more set later. That one’s probably gonna be bigger and will have a different design, so I wanna wait till these three are done first.”

“Sure. What kind of look are you going for with these three?”

“Knight-style armor, with minimal decorations.”

Kelly brought out a stack of papers with armor sketches. We picked a base design from those and then hashed out the details from there.

“Okay, let’s start with this one, then,” she said.

“I’m counting on you. I’ll leave the golem here. It’ll be easier if you have the real thing to work with,” I said.

At least, that’s what I had thought—Kelly refused to keep it.

“If word gets out that I’ve got something like this, I’ll have bandits breaking down my door by morning!” she yelled. “I’ve already got the dimensions burned into my brain. Just bring it over every now and then so I can do fittings. I’ll get one set done first, and we’ll take it from there.”

I thought she was being a little dramatic, but according to Kelly, there were plenty of people out there who’d risk everything just to get their hands on one of my golems—even an incomplete one.

“Hang on, I’ll whip up a stand-in for you. Gimme a sec.”

I considered she might actually be right, so I used Earth magic to create a life-sized clay replica of the golem to leave with her instead. It was almost the same size as the real one, but since it was just a dummy, it couldn’t move.

“This’ll work. It’s sturdy enough and nearly the same form factor. This should make things easier for me. Anyway, can I keep this once I’m done with the armor?” she asked.

Apparently, even an immobile model like this would help her fine-tune the details. Since she thought it’d be useful for displaying sample armor in the future, she asked to keep it in the workshop once she was done.

I didn’t have a problem with that. It was just something I whipped up on a whim, after all. It’d just take up space if I took it home, and I’d probably trash it anyway. I agreed to let her keep it when everything was done.

“All right, give me about two weeks to make this armor,” she said.

Kelly looked pretty pleased now that she had the replica and got to work. The dwarves behind her all looked rather pale, though. One of them even held up a stack of papers and waved them at Kelly. It seemed like they might’ve been order forms. However, Kelly just laughed and ignored her.

It was clear there was no stopping her now. The other staff members just sighed in defeat and trudged away with slumped shoulders. I did feel a little bad for them, but I wanted to see the final product myself. It wasn’t like Kelly would’ve listened to me anyway.

I decided to hand out some handmade potions, energy drinks, and another box of sweets that were different from what was in the first one to make up for it a little.

“They took them, so that’s good...but they didn’t look too happy about it,” I muttered to myself on the way home from the workshop. “Kelly’s not gonna get stabbed in the back someday, is she?”

This probably wasn’t the first time she had gone rogue, but it still felt like the other dwarves were one bad day away from snapping.

“Well, they’d probably just quit instead of stabbing her in the back. Hopefully. Probably...”

If things did come to a head someday, it’d be partly my fault. I figured the least I could do was be ready to mediate if it came to that. With those thoughts running through my mind, I hurried back to the house.

“Here’s the extra batch of sweets you asked for, Master Tenma.” Aina greeted me with a towering pile of baked goods.

I could smell the sweet scent of treats drifting from the dining room. Apparently, the mass baking party was still going strong.

“How are we on dinner prep, Aina?” I asked, since it was almost dinnertime. I was half afraid she was going to tell me that this was our dinner.

Her eyes darted away nervously. The other ladies all looked away too as they continued their work, casting occasional nervous glances at me. The guys, however, acted like I had come to save them. Apparently, they’d been dying to ask the same question.

“Fine, I’ll whip up something simple,” I said. “Just finish what you’re doing, and then you can help clean up and air the place out.”

It wasn’t realistic to ask them to stop right in the middle of it, so I told them to finish what they were working on and wrap it up. The ladies looked slightly guilty. Meanwhile, the guys looked like prisoners seeing daylight for the first time in years.

“I’ll help,” Aina said.

“Me too,” Leni said.

“Thanks, Leni. Could you rinse the rice and cook it? I’d like it to be a little firm,” I said.

I chose Leni to help because I needed Aina to supervise the others. Someone was definitely gonna screw something up unless she was keeping an eye on them.

“I can make a side dish or two if you’re making rice bowls,” Leni offered.

I was planning something like Japanese food for dinner, which was similar to SAR cuisine. Leni was the perfect fit to help since she’d made it many times before.

“Can you make some miso soup, then?” I asked. “It’ll be a lot of food, but it’s easy to make. We’ll probably finish before they even clean up,” I muttered to myself.

I poured soy sauce, sake, and sugar into a big pot and brought it to a boil. Once it started bubbling, I tossed in the ingredients to simmer.

“Hey, Tenma, is this okay for the miso soup? It feels a bit light to me.”

I tasted it. I agreed with Leni that it was a bit bland, but it was just right for what I had in mind.

“This is almost done too. Let’s get the bowls ready.”

Leni started pulling out rice bowls, soup bowls, and some deep plates, but I had her swap the rice bowls and deep plates for larger bowls instead.

“We’re just about done over here. How’s it going with you?” I checked in with Aina since the dinner was mostly ready. She said all she had left to do was wipe down the tables.

“Okay, then. Rice looks like it’s done steaming. Leni, could you start dishing out the rice into bowls?”

Leni handled the rice while I ladled the simmered topping onto each bowl.

“The miso soup’s ready too. Hey, everybody! Dinner’s ready! Come and get it!” I called out.

Tonight’s dinner was beef bowls. They were quick, cheap, and tasty. In my previous world, they were a staple food for hungry, busy people. They were called the same thing here, but I had made my own take on it. They were fast and easy to make in large quantities—perfect for a house full of hungry bellies like ours.

“Seconds, please!” Amur, Jin, and Galatt said in unison.

I couldn’t believe they had already finished their first bowls. They were such gluttons.

“Get them yourself,” I said.

“Like hell I’m losing to you! I want seconds too!” Leon yelled. He had already turned it into a competition, of course.

Rice bowls were perfect for times like these. You could set everything out in advance and let people serve themselves. It made things way easier.

“Make sure you save some for me, okay?” Cain said.

“Same for me!”

Cain had a point. If I wasn’t careful, I could look away for one second and find there was none left for me. I had to stay alert.

“Well, I’ll be heading back now,” Aina said after dinner. She took her share of sweets and went back to the hospital.

“Guess I’ll get back to work. I’ll take a bath later.”

I was a bit worried that Gramps and the others might be chaotic in the baths again, but since Leon, Albert, and Cain said they were heading straight home tonight, and as I’d already told Jin and Galatt to stagger their bath times, I hoped we’d avoid a repeat of last night. The girls didn’t have Aina supervising them anymore, but since Primera was also leaving, I figured that things should get back to normal. There wasn’t any reason for anybody to get rowdy.

“Maybe I should fine-tune the first one a bit before I move onto the second and third ones...”

I made some adjustments to the first golem, being careful not to throw off the fit of the temporary armor. Then, I started to build the second and third golems, using the initial one as a reference.

“I think I’m getting the hang of this now... I accidentally worked straight through the night, though.”

I was so deep in the zone that by the time I finished, the sun was already up.

“Now, I just need the mythril armor. And I can’t do that here at the house.”

I could work with magic iron or regular iron here, but not mythril, as it required a proper forge. Kelly’s shop would be the best place, but she was already busy with my last request. I didn’t want to pile more on her plate right now.

“Hmm... I only need to make armor for one of them for now. Maybe I can ask the king to let me use the workshop at the castle? It probably won’t be as good as Kelly’s equipment, but it’s better than trying to make something here.”

I remembered hearing the royal workshop wasn’t for full-blown forging but more for quick fixes and basic maintenance. However, when I had visited it before, I’d noticed it had a serious furnace. It might be able to handle mythril if I were lucky. And if it couldn’t, I’d just have to figure something else out.

“Either Kriss or Luna’s bound to show up begging for sweets. When they do, I’ll have them send a message to the king. I’ll work on the inner frame of the extra golem until I get the green light,” I told myself. “After I get some sleep, that is.”

I hastily made a “DO NOT DISTURB” sign, slapped it on my door, and collapsed into bed.

I woke up well past noon. I might’ve overslept a little, but I didn’t feel groggy at all. I could’ve jumped right back into work if I wanted to, but when I peeked out the window, I saw a royal carriage outside.

“I should get that message passed along...”

Luna was probably here. I headed down to the dining room to check, and sure enough, she and Kriss were there, helping themselves to sweets just like I’d thought.

There was one thing I didn’t expect, though.

“Well, well. Look who finally decided to get out of bed.”

“Tenma, we’ve heard your lifestyle’s gotten a bit erratic lately. You should be more mindful.”

Queen Maria and Princess Isabella were here. Judging by their tones, either Aina or Jeanne had told them I was still sleeping. The two of them scolded me a bit.

“I’ll be more careful from now on. But actually, I was hoping to ask you for a favor,” I said.

It felt a bit awkward to bring up what I wanted right after being lectured, especially since it was related to what I had just gotten scolded about. But the queen agreed anyway. She told me that she wouldn’t know the exact schedule of when the forge would be open till she got back to the castle, so the earliest I could use it would be tomorrow or the day after.

“Thanks. In that case, if you’ll excuse me. I have some work to do,” I said.

I didn’t have an exact date, but I had gotten the queen’s permission to use the forge soon. I wanted to at least have the golem’s inner frame finished by then if I could. I knew it was rude to duck out, but the queen just sighed at me.

“Just take care of yourself, Tenma,” she said.

“It would be nice if I could finish the armor for the last one too... But yeah, that’s probably not gonna happen,” I said to myself as I headed back to my room so I could get to work on the last golem.

Part Six

“Whew, I finally got the first one done.”

The inner frame of the golem itself was complete, but the armor was still a joint project with Kelly, so I wasn’t finished yet. I had definitely hit a milestone, though. Then again, I still had to make two more of the same and then a completely different one, so I couldn’t exactly say I was done.

“If I use the same design, I can probably manage to finish one a week... No, one every five days.”

I’d gotten the process down now, so it would be faster to build identical models. The fourth one had to be a different structure and would be bigger too, so finishing that one in a week might be unrealistic.

“Well, that last one wasn’t even part of the original plan. My first priority is making sure I finish the three I actually need,” I reasoned.

I’d been working on the fourth one off and on just to take a break from the others, but honestly, I hadn’t even finished a third of the core yet. And by “core,” I was talking about just the inner structure, not the armor.

“Besides, I don’t wanna bring this one to Kelly and end up getting cursed out.”

That wouldn’t come from Kelly herself—it’d be from her staff. When I had gone to her with my armor request, I had thought it might cause trouble, but Kelly had been brute-forcing orders like usual. Her staff had grumbled, but there had been no real tension. But if I were to show up with a fourth golem? I had a feeling all that frustration would then be aimed at me. That was why I hadn’t mentioned it to Kelly yet.

Once I was done with work for the day, I went to check in with the head of the castle’s forge. Unfortunately, starting tomorrow, the workshop would be booked for several days to handle repairs on the knights’ armor. I wouldn’t be able to access it yet.

I figured I’d say a quick hello to the king and the others before heading back home, but before I could even go look for them, Cruyff showed up and told me not to bother. According to him, they were all buried in work right now, so if I showed up, they’d just use me as an excuse to slack off.

As for Luna, she was drowning in homework and was surrounded by Queen Maria, Princess Isabella, and Tida. It sounded like some kind of academic intervention.

The king and Prince Lyle did tend to drop by my house now and then to goof off, so I assumed they off-loaded their duties onto subordinates. But it turned out that in reality, they worked pretty hard. The first time I had seen them actually working, I couldn’t help but mutter, “Are those stand-ins?” That’d shocked everyone nearby, and some of them had started laughing. The king and Prince Lyle hadn’t found it very humorous, but the queen, Prince Caesar, and Prince Zane had. “Say more of that, please!” they’d replied.

Anyway, since they were busy, I headed home without bothering them. Sometimes the queen or Luna would ambush me before I could leave the castle, but today, I was in the clear.

“We’re thinking of heading to Sagan tomorrow. You in?”

Jin was waiting near the foyer when I got back home. The Dawnswords were getting bored just lounging around the capital now that they’d finished reporting things to the castle. Apparently, their plan was to dive into the deepest part of the dungeon and scope out the surrounding area.

“That means we’ll need a ton of what you made last time! That stewed meat over rice!” he added.

It seemed like the beef bowls I had made the other day were a new favorite of Jin and the Dawnswords. They’d asked for them several times since then, and every time I’d made them, a full-blown eating contest had occurred.

“I don’t mind cooking, but we’re starting to run low on beef. I can make it with boar meat instead if you’d like,” I offered. “Or do you really want beef?”

The cattle near the capital were a protected species now, and hunting them was basically off-limits. Beef was getting harder and harder to obtain, so I wanted to hold on to what we had. It was pretty convenient to have a stockpile of it, especially when there was a party or formal dinner.

But while there were restrictions on cattle, there were none at all on boars. They lived in forests just outside the capital, and since they were pretty destructive to crops in nearby villages, boars had been officially classified as pests. Guilds regularly put up extermination requests for the creatures, and since boars often traveled in packs, it wasn’t that hard to find them.

“I don’t care if it’s beef or pork as long as it tastes good,” Jin said.

Well, it sounded like it was time to mass-produce some pork bowls. Or boar bowls, rather. The two meats did taste a bit different, but I suppose calling them “pork bowls” wasn’t technically wrong since boars were closely related to pigs.

To cook them, you mostly had to simmer the meat, just like with beef. After I sliced up the boar meat and onions, I tossed them into a boiling pot of broth—piece of cake. Still, boar meat was fattier than beef, so after it simmered, I cooled it down to skim the fat off the surface. I couldn’t take off too much, though, or Jin would complain. In the end, I just gave it a quick skim and left a reasonable amount.

Once it had cooled and I had cleaned up, I reheated the filling. I packed the rice into a big pot as soon as I was done and stashed it in a magic bag to keep it warm. That way, all they had to do was serve themselves—they could have piping hot pork bowls even down in the dungeon.

While I’d been at it, I had made enough for dinner too. Sourcing all the ingredients at once made everything a lot easier.

“This should last you about two weeks. Tonight’s dinner is pork bowls too,” I said. “I’m gonna eat in my room, so you all can clean up.”

I made a big bowl for myself and then holed up in my room so I could do some extra work.

“Only the arms are done so far. Next, I’ll work on the legs. Man, this thing’s huge.”

The fourth golem I was making was modeled after a minotaur. When it was finished, it would be over three meters tall. It probably wouldn’t move as smoothly as the knight-style golems, but I figured its sheer power as a heavy hitter and its ability to act as a moving wall would give it some real value in certain situations.

I’d used several wyvern cores and a minotaur core in its heart, so in terms of raw output, it might end up being the third-most-powerful golem I’d built behind Guardian Giganto and Thunderbolt. Then again, that was just based on its core specs. Output was one thing, but if the body couldn’t handle it, then the golem wouldn’t move properly. You couldn’t easily declare it the third-strongest based on that alone.

“Even if it ends up a failure, it’ll still outperform a regular golem,” I reasoned. “And it could still be a great shield even if it’s not good for combat. Worst-case scenario, I’ll just scrap it.”

That would be a waste, but at least I could chalk it up to a learning experience.

I stuffed some pork into my mouth while I looked over my rough sketch. It wasn’t good enough to show anyone since I couldn’t draw to save my life, but once the image in my head was clear, I could start prepping. Ideally, I’d be making the knight-type golem’s armor tonight too, but since I couldn’t process mythril at the house, it made more sense to focus on things I could do here.

I could take the night off, but considering everything I had coming up soon, I wanted to finish the golems as quickly as I could. At the very least, I planned to keep working until the armor Kelly was working on was ready, even if I had to push myself.

“Besides, these kinds of projects are best tackled when I’m in the zone. Oh, right. I should revise this design first,” I mumbled as I sketched out a diagram of the lower body and made some tweaks. It was going to be a pain to implement the things I wanted to, but the golem might not even make a good shield if I didn’t make this change. There really would be no getting around it.

“All right, guess I’ll start with the legs.”

I used my updated sketch as a guide and began laying out the bones of the minotaur golem’s lower body. It might’ve looked borderline grotesque to an outsider, but the bones were so huge that somehow, it didn’t come off as creepy to me.

I kept working on the fourth golem while I waited to use the castle’s forge. I still hadn’t finished its legs even after three days, but thanks to all the fine-tuning and problem-solving I’d done along the way, the final result looked like it was going to be worth it.

Once the royal workshop was free, it took me five more days to finish the second golem’s inner frame. Kelly just so happened to finish the armor she was working on that day too. One of the dwarves who worked in her shop came to tell me as such—she looked absolutely exhausted with dark shadows under her eyes when she did.

That was probably my fault.

Anyway, she told me Kelly wanted me to come over right away, but seeing how rough this dwarf looked, I couldn’t drag her into more work tonight. I told her I’d stop by the following afternoon. That relaxed her a bit, and she looked much lighter on her feet as she headed back into town.

I went to Kelly’s workshop the next day after lunch.

“What took you so long, Tenma?! Hurry up and check out the armor!”

Kelly had been waiting by the door for me. The second I stepped inside, she grabbed me and practically dragged me to the back.

“Here’s the armor you asked for!”

A sheet was draped over what I assumed was the clay mannequin I’d left her. Kelly walked right up and yanked the sheet away with a flourish.

“Whoa, that’s impressive,” I said.

She revealed a suit of armor that resembled a knight’s. It was mostly white. Since it was so massive and was already fitted onto the dummy, it looked really imposing, even though it wasn’t moving.

No wonder she’d looked so smug. Since I’d finalized the design with her, I had been able to picture the finished product all along, but actually seeing it blew all my expectations out of the water.

Still, I saw one thing I hadn’t expected. Something that felt off.

“Kelly, why is there a ponytail on the helmet?” I asked.

There was something that looked an awful lot like a ponytail sticking out near the back of the helmet.

“It’s not a ponytail! It’s a plume!” Kelly insisted.

It didn’t look like it was made of feathers, though. Calling it a ponytail was a way better description. Well, actually, it was more like if someone had tied their long hair into a topknot, but the only one who’d get that reference in this world was Namitaro.

“I told you not to add any extra decorations. What if someone grabs it during a fight?”

“Anyone who can get close enough to grab that while it’s moving is already a monster. Besides, if they yank too hard, it’ll come right off.”

I gave the ponytail plume a strong tug, and sure enough, it popped off in my hands.

“See? So who cares if it gets grabbed?” Kelly said. “Come on, Tenma. This is one badass suit of armor. It needed a bit of flair.”

All right, I had to admit that she did have a point. I couldn’t help but wonder why she was being so insistent on it, though.

“Wait, what’s that?” I asked.

“Why’d you bring those out? I hid those in the back!”

The female dwarves were holding up two identical helmets and a handful of the same ponytail plumes, clearly meant to match the first one.

“You went ahead and made the helmets first, got too into it, and didn’t wanna change the design, huh?”

“Maybe, but it’s not just that. They turned out way better than I imagined, and I’m worried I can’t top them,” she claimed.

Kelly was probably telling the truth, but I thought she just simply liked the design. Maybe she’d fallen for the helmet so hard she couldn’t let go. And considering how much mythril we had left, redoing the whole thing might not even be an option now. She’d nailed it on the first try, so of course she wouldn’t want to melt it down now.

“Six spare ponytails? So seven in total?” I asked. “They’re, uh, colorful.”

The one on the finished helmet was black, but the dwarves were holding six more in red, white, blue, brown, green, and yellowish orange. It was a pretty vibrant lineup.

Kelly started to argue with me again. “Like I said, they’re not pony—”

“They’re made of horsehair, from the tail,” one of the dwarves cut her off, letting it slip.

“So they’re literally pony tails!” I yelled. “Well, whatever. I don’t care what they’re made out of at this point. Let’s just move on and get the armor on the golem.”

Knowing what they were made of didn’t change the fact that they looked like ponytails, and finding out they were horsehair just confirmed it. But either way, I wasn’t going to waste time arguing about aesthetics. I’d come here to get this armor fitted so I could get back to work on my minotaur golem. After we had adjusted it, I still had to turn the armor into a golem itself, and that meant I’d be getting back to the estate late—maybe even after midnight.

“Yeah, let’s get to it. And it’s a plume, not a ponytail, by the way,” Kelly said again. “Tenma, summon a golem to help out with the setup. It doesn’t have to be a strong one, just one tall and slim enough to move around in here without knocking things over.”

The workshop was cluttered with half-finished projects, tools, materials, and finished gear. It would be easier for a slim helper golem to maneuver in this kind of space.

“Okay. I’ll use my second golem as a test run and have it help out.”

I’d already done some basic testing, so I knew both the first and second golems I’d made functioned properly. However, I wasn’t sure if they could handle delicate tasks like equipping armor or assisting with the process.

“Unit One, stay put. Unit Two, lift that a little higher...and stop.”

Both golems moved in sync according to Kelly’s instructions. I’d been worried about their fine motor skills, but thanks to the musculature I’d woven throughout their frames, they moved more fluidly than anything I’d made before. Honestly, they were perfectly useful enough, moving like an unskilled person lending a hand.

“If they can move like that for delicate work, we could actually use them for a lot more than I thought. Hey, Tenma...”

“I’m not giving you one,” I said, cutting her off before she could finish. No way was I handing out the same type of golem I’d built for my future wife to someone else, especially not before I had even gotten married. That’d be messed up.

“Looks like it’s all good. Okay, Unit One. Give us a light movement test,” I ordered.

The golem stepped into the largest open area of the shop and started moving about.

“Um...Tenma? What’s it doing?”

“An exercise routine. Helps prevent injuries and makes for a good systems check, since it gets the whole body moving,” I said.

Basically, it was doing the equivalent of radio exercises. I say “equivalent” because I couldn’t remember all the movements exactly. I’d had to fill in the gaps with stuff that felt close enough.

“Huh. Well, whatever. Exercise aside, the movements look solid. The only thing left is to see what happens once the armor’s turned into a golem. That part we won’t know until we try. Still, even if that fails, just the inner golem on its own could still be useful.”

Kelly seemed satisfied with the inner core, but I wanted to get the whole armored golem working. That was the real finish line.

“All right, let’s get started,” I said. “Unit Two, help take the armor off Unit One.”

I had the second golem assist us by removing the armor. Then, I checked where we’d be placing the golem core.

“How exactly are you fusing the two together? If you screw it up, won’t the armor and the core end up moving separately and make the whole thing useless?” Kelly asked.

“I’ve got that covered.”

Naturally, trying to merge two separate golems like this came with risks, which was why...

“The core that goes into the chest plate of the armor already has a fragment embedded from the core inside the golem’s body. That way, the two should stay synced up,” I explained.

I’d already run a successful test using tiny palm-sized earth golems, so I expected Unit One’s armor to work. My experimental golems had broken several times due to durability issues, but I planned to fix that.

“Let’s start with the torso. The chest cores should line up right about there. Marking it now.”

Once I had the placement, I had Kelly coat it with a conductive silver-copper alloy while leaving the embedded core fragment exposed. This alloy wasn’t as hard as mythril, but it had decent strength and good compatibility thanks to its silver content.

“We’ll let that cool down and get the torso fitted. Yeah, the fit’s not quite right now.”

“Well, yeah. Even a thin coating will throw things off,” Kelly replied. “But we can just shave a little off the armor. I’ll have my crew handle that. In the meantime, you finish marking the rest of the core spots, and I’ll keep coating them.”

The core placement and coating process didn’t take long. But adjusting the armor was a much more delicate endeavor, so even after Kelly and I were done, the female dwarves were still working away.

“All right, let’s get started on stripping down the armor. It’s not a complicated process, so we can take turns and rest as we go.”

Since it was detailed—but not complex—work, Kelly thought that even if someone swapped out partway, it wouldn’t interrupt the flow of things.

“We finished a lot earlier than expected, huh? We’ll still need to test it out to see how it handles, but there’s no way I can do that here in the workshop,” Kelly said.

When we’d started, I’d braced myself to be at it until well past midnight. However, we actually wrapped things up way ahead of schedule—just around dinnertime.

“All right, let’s call it a day. We can run the test outside the city tomorrow,” I said.

“That sounds good. Might as well turn in early for a change,” Kelly replied.

The ones most thrilled about finishing early were Kelly’s employees; that was for sure. Hearing Kelly of all people say, “We’re done for the day” was probably enough to send them into a frenzy. Her staff scrambled to pack up everything before she could change her mind.

“Even if we did finish earlier than planned, this would probably still be considered a toxic workplace back in my own world...” I muttered.

“Hm? Did you say something?” she asked.

“Nope, nothing.”

I mean, celebrating being done by dinnertime just went to show how warped Kelly’s own work ethic was, not to mention how far gone everyone else was for thinking it was something to cheer about.

Anyway, putting aside the whole “Kelly’s workshop is a toxic company” thing for the moment, we decided on a time and place to meet the following day. We would meet in the early afternoon. I hoped that the dwarves could get a little rest, assuming Kelly didn’t go off the rails again.

“Okay, this looks like a good spot.”

The following day, we met in the middle of a grassy meadow a fair distance from the capital to prepare to test the knight golem. It wasn’t just me and Kelly here, though. Literally everyone from my house had come along. Kelly had shown up at my place instead of at the city gates like we’d agreed to, and way earlier than when we were supposed to have met. She had started rushing me, so naturally, everyone else had gotten curious and decided to tag along.

“Seriously? You let the girls go home even though we needed extra hands...” Kelly muttered.

Since everyone had insisted on coming, there wasn’t enough room in the carriage. I had suggested that we send back Kelly’s employees instead. She’d claimed that if something were to go wrong, we wouldn’t be able to do anything without their help, but honestly, we were only going to do minor adjustments at this point. And if something serious did happen, we’d end up going back to her workshop anyway. That had been my reasoning for sending them back.

Although for some odd reason, they all had thought I was giving them the day off and had thanked me profusely. That hadn’t been what I was aiming for, but since they’d been happy, I had decided to keep my mouth shut.

“It’s fine, right? I can handle any tweaks we need to do with my magic. The same goes for Gramps,” I said. “Now, let’s bring out the golem.”

The golem appeared in the meadow. It was already standing upright, but it nearly lost its balance—the ground here was much softer than in the workshop.

“Whoa! Activate golem!” I yelled.

I hurried to power it up, and the golem stabilized itself just in time. It was now standing steady.

Amur threw her arms to the side. “That was a close one...”

“It almost got us!” Aura yelled. She had jumped back the second it had started wobbling. But once the golem steadied itself, she casually walked back over like nothing had happened.

“Looks like you’ve made another extraordinary golem,” Gramps said.

Everyone turned to look at Thunderbolt at that.

Aura, however, didn’t understand. “What’s so special about it, Master Merlin?” she asked Gramps, staring at Thunderbolt in confusion.

“It’d probably be quicker just to ask Tenma, but basically, it’s the fact that this golem is doing something close to what humans can do. It’s easy for humans to regain our balance, sure, but not so simple for something man-made!”

Gramps was right. Getting a golem to move like a person wasn’t easy at all. It was basically impossible for a standard golem to shift its weight to regain its balance, especially out here—the soft ground made it sink in some places, throwing off its footing. Just the fact that this golem could adapt to that made it top-tier.

“Well, I did expect it to be able to handle that much, so I’m not surprised. What matters more is how strong it is,” I said.

Everyone looked at me like I’d just missed the entire point, but it wasn’t like this was anything new to me. Valley Wind was able to regain his balance just fine. And even the golems I’d made for Amy and the royal family could pull that off too.

“I made it so it can use pretty much any weapon, but let’s start with this one and see how it goes. For opponents...five golems should be enough, I think.”

I handed it a “weapon” that was about two meters long. It was just a spare iron pole we used for drying laundry back home, but it was the right size to fit the knight golem’s build. My halberd could’ve worked as well, but that was too valuable to be used for a test like this. As for its opponents, I called upon the standard golems we used to guard the estate. One of them alone could take on two or three members of the king’s guard without any trouble, so five of them would be roughly equivalent to ten to fifteen knights, give or take. That was practically an entire brigade.

The knight golem pulverized the five golems, leaving their wreckage scattered across the meadow.

“Whew, they didn’t stand a chance!” I cheered. “Now let’s have Jin try.”

He wasn’t having it. “Hang on a second! Are you trying to use me as a human sacrifice?!”

Now that Jin had been “volunteered” as the next test subject, he pointed a trembling finger at the golem that had just crushed his opponents.

“Cmon, man. I wanna see how it handles against an actual person,” I said. “I can’t watch how it moves if I’m the one fighting it, right? Just think of it as repaying me for all the free food and drink you’ve gotten at my place!”

The moment the subject of money came up, Galatt and the rest of the Dawnswords instantly switched sides.

“Yeah! Go get ’em, Jin!”

“Do or die, buddy!”

“If you don’t make it, we’ll make sure you get a nice, proper burial!”

“Hey, Tenma,” Jin began. “Don’t you think it’d be good to get some combat data on some other types of fighters too? What about an agile beastfolk, a female warrior who fights on the front lines, and a mage who casts spells from the rear?” He was obviously describing his own party members.

“That’s actually a great idea. All right. After Jin’s done, you three will go in as a team.”

Thanks to Jin’s suggestion, Galatt and the others were officially next up to face the golem.

“Go on, Jin,” I said.

“Fine, let’s do this! I’m going all in!”

Galatt and the others shouted at him from a distance, but Jin’s battle cry drowned them out, so I couldn’t make out a word of it.

“All right. Begin!” I called.

“Raaaaaghhh!!!” Jin lunged in at my signal, but...

His first strike didn’t even get through. He clipped the golem’s shoulder, and his sword chipped. Badly.

“Hang on a second, time out!” I yelled.

Everyone froze, Jin included. But the golem didn’t care. It swung its iron pole, aiming straight for Jin’s skull.

“Golem, halt!”

Jin narrowly dodged the blow to the head by hopping to the side and then rolling across the ground to distance himself from the golem. But the golem reacted quicker than either of us expected. It was already winding up for another strike before Jin could even get back on his feet.

I quickly shouted for it to stop again.

“Damn, Jin almost got wiped out in seconds.”

“Yeah, even though he charged in like an idiot, he’s still a Rank S adventurer...”

“Right? He just charged in and broke his weapon! He didn’t do a thing! He’s the leader of the Dawnswords?!”

“How lame...”

Galatt and the others gave Jin icy, reproachful glares that left him frozen solid. I didn’t say it out loud, but I kind of felt the same way, and I had a feeling Gramps did too.

“Tenma! One more time. Just gimme one more shot! I’ll do it right this time!” Jin yelled. He shoved his chipped practice sword into his magic bag and pulled out a proper mythril greatsword.

“Why didn’t you just use that from the start?” I muttered.

Jin ignored me. “That sword must’ve been at the end of its lifespan, y’know? I gotta make sure to take better care of my training gear,” he said, trying to cover for himself.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Dawnswords whispered to each other behind him.

“Didn’t he just have that sword reforged recently?”

“Yeah, I remember him grinning like an idiot, saying it came out really good.”

“He was up late last night oiling and polishing it.”

I gave them a sidelong glance and called the match. “Begin!”

“Yaaaah!” Jin charged in again.

This time, his weapon held firm.

“Not bad. This is a much closer match.”

“Still, I’d say the golem still has the upper hand,” Gramps commented. “Jin’s gonna be in trouble if this goes on.”

The knight golem was holding its ground easily. Sure, Jin had an edge when it came to raw skill and damage output, but the golem had him beat hands down in defense and stamina. It wasn’t hard to see how this would play out if this match continued.

“Jin’s got better technique and his sword is harder, but the golem’s got a full set of mythril armor. That thing’s absorbing his hits like they’re nothing.”

The golem wielded an iron laundry pole, so in theory, Jin’s weapon was superior. But the golem’s sheer strength was making up the difference in impact. And since it didn’t have to worry about damage or fatigue, it could keep pushing ahead at full power.

“So the real problem here is stamina. Even if Jin tries to wear it down, that golem’s running on a magic core loaded way beyond normal capacity. He’ll get exhausted way before the golem does. In that case, Jin’s best move is to attack its joints...” I mused.

“Yaah! Take this!”

Sure enough, Jin started focusing all his strikes on the backs of the golem’s knees, where its armor was thinner.

“Jin’s about to turn things around, but it’s still hard to say who’s gonna win.”

“He hasn’t disabled the golem’s defenses yet, though. It’s still packing quite a punch,” Gramps said.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “After this, I’ll need to revise the design with joint protection in mind. Although honestly, who knows how many attackers could actually land precise hits on that spot mid-battle?”

The golem’s movements were slowing because of Jin’s concentrated attacks, but it hadn’t lost any power. Whenever Jin had to leap back to avoid a hit, the golem’s strikes into the ground left deep craters behind.

“All right!” Jin cheered.

“That’s enough! Golem, standby!” Kelly said.

After a dozen or so exchanges, Jin finally landed a clean blow to the back of its knee. The golem collapsed forward onto all fours, and Kelly called the match there.

“Damn, I didn’t think Jin would win.”

“Well, there goes my spending money...”

“That was unexpected. He still had some energy left too.”

“What the heck was that earlier, then?!”

“He probably did it on purpose so he could have a dramatic comeback.”

“Yeah, he wanted to be like, ‘Look how cool I am!’ Right?”

Apparently, a betting pool had started around Jin’s fight with the golem.

“Um, I kinda hit the jackpot...” Jeanne said with surprise.

“I guess Jeanne felt bad no one was betting on Jin and threw in a pity wager. That turned out to be a winning long shot bet.”

The entry fee had been 500G across the board. Anyone who had bet on the golem, like Amur and the others, wouldn’t have even made 100G if they had won. But you couldn’t blame them for having made safe bets after his embarrassing first round.

“Jeanne’s weirdly lucky with this kind of stuff. Remember that time she won back in the Haust margravate?”

“She just goes with her instincts and doesn’t get too greedy. That’s the key. Now, that’s what you call luck,” Gramps said.

Meanwhile, Aura managed to lose every time, no matter what side she picked. She probably had the worst luck out of all of us. Amur wasn’t much better, honestly.

“Well then, normally I’d say Galatt and the others are next, but that’s not happening today,” I said.

The golem was still on the ground. Technically, it could get up, but Kelly had already called it, so there was no need to push it further. She ordered it into maintenance mode instead.

“Damn. I really wanted to see Galatt and the others get wrecked,” Jin muttered. He sounded disappointed.

But since the golem’s doctor—er, blacksmith—had officially ruled it out, he didn’t press the issue. Meanwhile, Galatt and the rest of the Dawnswords looked relieved to be off the hook.

“The knight golem turned out pretty good overall, but right now, it feels like it’s relying too much on raw power and defense. That’s just not enough against someone like Jin, who’s got both skill and experience,” I said.

“So it’ll need more practical experience in combat?” Gramps asked.

Exactly, I thought. The golem was still a baby, really. It needed to learn how to fight.

“Hey, Tenma? If the golem’s still new to combat, does that mean I just barely managed to beat it at its weakest?” Jin asked with a pained look on his face, almost like he didn’t want to know the answer.

“Yep. The other golems I made recently were built using magic cores from my older models, like the ones for the royal family and Amy. Those ones had a strong foundation even from the start. But this one’s core was made from scratch. It’s got great potential, but right now, it’s like a newborn baby,” I said.

Thunderbolt’s personality mainly came from the bicorn magic core, but even then, Valley Wind’s experience and the recorded data in the core played a huge role. The knight golem didn’t have any of that—it was starting fresh.

“So you’re saying I just bragged about beating up a baby?” Jin asked.

“It’s just a metaphor, Jin. Don’t feel too bad. There are baby monsters out there that are stronger and bigger than humans!”

Sure, it was powered by a magic core, which made the golem more like an artificial magical creature than a standard golem. Some artificial magical creatures were capable of killing people the moment they were born.

Jin didn’t seem to understand that completely, but realizing he’d only just barely managed to beat the golem in its weakest state had him shook.

“Hey, Tenma,” Kelly called out. “The emergency repairs are done, but we’ll need to bring it back to the workshop to realign its joints. Also, I want to swap out the material behind its knees. If we leave it as is, we’ll just have to do the same repairs all over again next time. I’ve got a few ideas, but I’ll need your help to implement them. C’mon, let’s head back!”

Kelly had already finished packing up and was raring to go. It sounded like she already had some upgrades to the golem’s armor planned.

“All right, guys. I’m heading to the workshop with Kelly.”

“Got it!” Gramps said.

“Don’t forget we’re leaving soon. Be back by noon tomorrow,” Jin reminded me.

Since the Dawnswords were leaving soon, I had to make sure I was back at the mansion. There was a real chance I’d lose track of time, though, so if I didn’t make it back tonight, I’d just have someone come by in the morning and pick me up.

“About the upgrades...” Kelly began. “I’m not planning on overhauling the design. We’ll just tweak it to make it look less like it’s made for a person and more like it’s for a golem.”

Kelly said the reason the knight golem had lost to Jin was because its armor was shaped like a human’s. That ended up working in Jin’s favor when he’d fought it because he knew how to counter a man in armor.

“First, we’ll add a lightweight guard over the back of its joints. We’ll make sure it’s nothing that’ll get in the way of its movement,” she explained.

The guard in question would basically just be a curved metal bar that’d be strapped over the area. Even something that simple could help reduce the impact from slashes and blunt strikes.

“Next, instead of just using one layer of monster hide, we’ll use a triple-layered system. Elastic leather on the inside, then a fine chain mail mesh, and then flexible leather on the outside,” she added.

That combo would definitely add thickness, and if this were for a person, it might make the armor bulky or awkward to move in. A golem wouldn’t care about any of that, though. Sure, we’d need to test it and make adjustments to ensure the bulk didn’t restrict its motion, but even then, it would just be a matter of having the golem squat or flex a few times.

“I don’t think we should change anything about the hip joints,” I said. “If those get too bulky, the golem’s movement will get sloppy. But let’s completely rework the neck, elbow, knee, and underarm joints. We’ll swap out the leather from the ankles too. Oh, and let’s change the fingers from ones that move fully independently to a more grouped configuration. Like the index and middle fingers will move together, ring and pinky together, and so on. Yeah, that sounds like a good idea.”

In the end, we were basically reworking every joint in some way. Since it was clear to us now that the joints were the knight golem’s weakness, it made sense to reinforce them wherever we could in ways that didn’t mess with its movement. As for grouping the fingers together, Kelly said that would slightly increase the thickness of each finger. Right now, those areas were both the weakest and most exposed. In the end, the hands would look like a pair of armored kendo gloves.

“So you’re handing the armor modifications and the chain mail yourself, and your crew’s handling the leather, right? But what am I supposed to do?” I asked.

Everything we had talked about so far was delicate work for specialists. It didn’t seem like there was anything I could help with.

“Well, Tenma, you’re here to get the changes explained to you and give your approval,” Kelly said. “Also, you need to supply us with usable materials and food while we work. So let’s see what you’ve got stocked up!”

That made sense. Since I’d been the one who’d brought the materials over in the first place, it was only fair that I would provide them again. And if Kelly said snacks or meals would help them work more efficiently, then I could do that too.

“I’ve got some sweets on me, but all the materials and proper food are back at the mansion,” I said.

I hadn’t planned on being out this long today, so I’d left the nonessentials behind. If Kelly had just said something before we’d come here, I could’ve prepped things and brought all of it along.

“Guess I’ll head home, grab what we need, and then come right back,” I reasoned.

It was better for me to get that all over with now. That way, I’d still be able to see Jin and the Dawnswords off tomorrow without any problems.

Besides, I was going to be heading to Sagan a few days after them too. It actually might turn out that we’d arrive at the same time. Honestly, it’d make more sense if Jin and the others just waited for me, but they were in a big rush to get back to Sagan as soon as possible. It was probably because they were being constantly stared at as they walked around the capital. It made sense that they wanted to go back to a place where they felt comfortable—and that was less annoying.

“Thanks...” Kelly said half-heartedly.

She had clearly gotten ahead of herself. She kept her head down as she scribbled corrections onto the schematics, probably hiding how embarrassed she was that she’d just shown up at my house this morning.

And so I rushed back to the mansion.

Kriss burst out laughing the moment I told her why I’d returned. “Kelly’s such an idiot! Honestly, if she’d just thought it out beforehand, it would’ve made everything a lot easier!”

“Should you really be laughing that loudly, Kriss? You know you’re still a lady, right?” Aina had come over and gently scolded her, though it was clear she wasn’t being serious. She quickly went back to supervising Jeanne and the others, who were cleaning.

“Ahem. Anyway, Tenma, why is Primera on the cleaning crew?” Kriss asked. “No one’s acting like it’s a big deal, herself included, but she’s still a noblewoman from a ducal family, right? Couldn’t this be a problem later?”

It was understandable for Kriss to be curious—she still didn’t know about my engagement to Primera. On the other hand, she did know about my relationship to Duke Sanga and his family, so she was probably just checking to be safe. There wasn’t any real issue with it, though.

“She asked Aina for some training because she said she doesn’t want to be helpless the next time she gets sent on a faraway mission with the knights. Her father is aware because she got his approval through Albert. It’s fine,” I said.

The explanation wasn’t just for Kriss. It was the official excuse we’d give to any nobles who weren’t familiar with the Sanga or Otori families or who didn’t like us. Since Primera herself had requested the training, the duke had given his blessing. No one could object.

“Huh? This almost sounds like when women train to be wives...”

“Why not join her then, Kriss?” I asked. “It might help when you go on missions with the king’s guard.”

“What are you trying to say?”

I wasn’t the one who brought up wife training, but she clearly picked up on what I was implying. I’d tried to frame it as something practical, but she wasn’t buying it.

“Anyway, I’m gonna go cook something for Kelly and the others. Try not to distract me, okay? Aina, can you help me out for a bit?”

“Sure. Aura, I’m going to help Master Tenma cook for a while. No slacking off!” Aina yelled.

“Hey, why am I the only one getting scolded?!”

Since I was just making standard beef bowls, I didn’t actually need Aina’s help. I mostly wanted her assistance keeping Kriss at bay—it was safer not to be alone when she was around. Both Kriss and Aina seemed to understand what I was trying to do, and thankfully, Aina played along perfectly. Kriss decided to keep her distance.

“All right, I just gotta let it simmer a bit longer and wait for the rice to finish cooking. Keep an eye on it for me, okay?”

Once the food was close to done, I left the rest to Aina and went to look through our stockpile for materials that might work for the golems. I needed leather that was flexible and elastic, which meant something reptilian, like wyvern hide. Or maybe something amphibious could work, like a hide from a mad poisonous frog? I grabbed a few options and packed them up.

“Okay, time to deliver the food and supplies.”

It only took me about ten minutes to get ready. By the time I got back to the kitchen, the beef bowls were done. I tossed those in my dimension bag too and headed back to Kelly’s workshop.

Once I was there, I would have her pick what materials she wanted and then show her how to make beef bowls. It wouldn’t take long.

But it did.

“How am I supposed to choose between such high-quality materials?!”

Apparently, I’d brought too many good options. Kelly’s craftsman instincts had kicked in hard, and by the time I got back to the mansion, it was already past midnight.

“Ugh, now I get why Jin was so worn-out...”

I tried sparring with the upgraded knight golem two days after Jin’s mock battle, and the results were way better than I expected.

“Wow, it’s turning into even more of a monster than I thought! This is gonna be fun to watch.”

Kelly was downright giddy as she watched me fight the golem. Clearly, nothing excited her more than seeing something she worked on getting stronger.

“All right then, Kelly. I’ll leave the armor for the other two to you. I probably won’t have the cores ready for another two or three months, so there’s no need to rush. Just take your time.”

“Got it! I’ll get back to the workshop, then!”

I highly doubted she would actually take her time. At least she wouldn’t try to speedrun the whole thing since there was no looming deadline, though. Hopefully.

She headed back to her workshop, looking absolutely thrilled. I couldn’t help but worry that she was about to work her dwarves into the ground again.

“Anyone else wanna take a turn?” I asked. “The golem’s holding back its power. This is just about giving it combat experience.”

“I do!” Amur said, her hand shooting up into the air.

“Me too!” Kriss said, following suit.

“I was first, Kriss!” Amur complained.

“Are you having vision or hearing problems, Amur?”

To absolutely no one’s surprise, the two of them immediately started bickering over who would fight the golem next.

“Why don’t the two of you just go in together, then?” I suggested. “The golem will get some experience fighting multiple opponents, and you two can work on your teamwork. It’s still training, so the golem will hold back.”

They both seemed more concerned about getting their own turn than cooperating, so pairing them up would be good for everyone involved.

“I guess so. Try not to slow me down, Kriss,” Amur huffed.

“Please! You’re the one who’s terrible at coordination, not me. So we’ll be using my strategy.”

The two of them glared at each other, tension rising as they argued over tactics.

I completely ignored them and gave the signal to start. “Begin!”

“Monster! Kriss, go left!”

“That was savage, Tenma! Amur, aim for its feet! Try to trip it if you can!”

I was surprised that they fell in sync right away. Kriss went in first, drawing its attention with feints while Amur used her strength to break its stance. It was a solid strategy, and Jin had used a similar one.

“Kriss, distract it better!” Amur shouted.

“I’m trying! It won’t take the bait. What do you want me to do?!”

Apparently, the golem had deemed Amur to be the bigger threat and focused on her, completely turning its back on Kriss.

“I’ll make it turn around!” Kriss lunged in and drove her blade towards the golem’s knee joint.

“Ow!”

But the strike landed precisely on the new guard Kelly had added. Her sword bounced right off.

“Kriss!”

The moment she flinched, the golem whirled around and swung its iron pole towards her.

“Aw, c’mon! What a pain!”

Luckily, the awkward angle had made the golem’s attack easy to dodge. Kriss avoided it easily, but the distance between them widened, and the golem turned back towards Amur.

“Gotcha!”

And that was when Amur landed a heavy blow.

“Ugh, it’s tough!”

She slammed her trusty bardiche into its torso, but the golem barely budged. Her face twisted in frustration from the impact. Still, it had been enough to knock the golem off-balance. It fell on its rear, and then...

“Mine!”

Kriss pressed her blade right up to the golem’s neck.

“That’s enough!” I yelled, calling it there.

The sword hadn’t pierced its armor, of course. Kriss had stopped just short, but it was a clear win in a mock battle like this.

“Kriss totally stole that win! Thief!” Amur accused.

“Roles shift on the battlefield all the time. You just got unlucky. Suck it up, buttercup!” Kriss quipped in return.

“That was surprisingly one-sided,” Gramps said.

I ignored the two girls bickering in the background. “It was the first time it’s gone up against more than one person. I think it saw Amur going for the same joint Jin attacked, so it locked onto her as the primary threat,” I explained to Gramps.

“That makes sense. So even though Kriss was right in front of it, it still turned its back on her for Amur. It recognized the weakness that cost it the last fight and prioritized defending against that. It was smart in theory, but it was a mistake in a two-on-one scenario,” he said, nodding.

The golem would probably try something different next time after learning from this. But if it were to end up facing three opponents, it could make the same misjudgment again. This wasn’t the kind of lesson it could learn from fighting basic dummies.

“Gramps, I’ve decided I’m going to the Sagan dungeon tomorrow, and I’m taking the golem with me. The dungeon can offer it the kind of real combat experience no mock battle can provide,” I said.

With its high defense, the golem should be able to hold its own, even against the monsters near the bottom floor. And if things got dicey, I could just stow it in my magic bag. It would keep going as long as I kept feeding it mana, so I felt that it should be able to handle my usual pace just fine.

“I’d love to come along, but keeping up with you going full speed ahead would be tough for me. Plus, Amur and the others will probably whine until we take them into the dungeon. I’ll stay here with them,” Gramps said.

He’s already anticipating that, huh? Well, that helped me out. Besides, they were going to need to reach the newly discovered dungeon eventually, so it made sense for them to follow after me anyway. Since Amur and the others hadn’t been down to the lowest levels on their own, they’d have to clear it themselves. After they’d done that and caught up to me, I could give them backup once I cleared the way first.

“I’m not sure if having you clear the dungeon is really helping or doing it for them, but more strength is always better when we’re talking about the lower floors. I’ll just make sure they go through it at least once on their own. Well, ideally two or three times,” Gramps said.

It seemed like he was planning on treating this as an advance on their future achievements. He wanted to make sure Amur and the others built up enough experience to clear it themselves.

“I’ll bring Thunderbolt with me, but how would you guys get there?”

“Hm, there’re more of us, so using Thunderbolt would be ideal. Maybe we should just go with you to Sagan?” Gramps said.

Even if we weren’t doing the dungeon together now, it did make more sense to travel to Sagan together.

“It’s not a problem for me or you, but Jeanne, Amur, and the others still need time to get ready. And someone’s got to manage the mansion while we’re gone. We can ask Aina and Uncle Mark like always, but maybe they’re already busy?” I said.

If we could get in touch with everyone right away and get all the prep done, then maybe we could all travel together. But that was a big maybe.

“Let’s see... Leni’s supposed to be heading back to the SAR soon, and Jeanne and Aura have training scheduled with Aina, right?” I asked.

Leni probably wanted to pick up some souvenirs and gather information before leaving the capital, and Aina had specifically slotted in Jeanne and Aura’s training during her time off, so canceling that now would be kind of rude. Amur was free, but as long as Leni wasn’t sticking around, I couldn’t just drag Amur off somewhere. Plus, I was engaged now—it wouldn’t be appropriate to take an unmarried woman into a dungeon with me, even just as a party member.

“Yeah, changing plans at the last minute isn’t a great idea,” Gramps said. “How about this: I can go to Sagan with you, then leave you there and head back on my own with Thunderbolt. That way, we can both use him, and everyone else will have time to finish getting ready before I return.”

That was a good idea. I wouldn’t need Thunderbolt once I got to Sagan, so sending him back with Gramps wasn’t a problem. And it would only take three or four days to get there if we used Thunderbolt, assuming we didn’t care about how hard we pushed the driver. So, a round trip would be about a week. That would be more than enough time for everyone to get ready.

“All right, let’s do that,” I said. “You don’t really need to pack anything, do you?”

“Nope, I could go straight into a dungeon now if I had to!” Gramps said.

We always kept our magic bags fully stocked with essentials, so he and I were basically good to go at any given moment.

“Okay, I’ll head back to the house to start prepping meals.”

I would always put together some food and snacks before heading out on a trip or a dungeon dive. I already had sweets packed up, and I could just buy everything else I needed at food stalls or shops along the way home now. It really wouldn’t take long.

“Maybe I’ll whip up some more beef bowls,” I mused.

Beef bowls had been a fan favorite at the Otori residence lately, so I could prepare a few large stockpots, just like I’d done for Jin. One would be filled with the beef, and the other with rice.

“If you’re making beef bowls, make enough for us too!” Gramps said.

At this rate, I wasn’t sure if I’d even be able to leave tomorrow myself, thanks to the sheer volume of beef bowl orders.

“I’ll get cooking, then.”

I rounded up the golem and gave Jeanne, Aura, and Leni a quick rundown of our plans before I started getting ready to head back.

“All right, let’s go. I need to stop at some shops along the way to stock up on supplies. Go ahead and start cooking without me.”

I let everyone know I’d be breaking off for errands along the way, and we all climbed into the carriage.

“Let’s go!”

“Got it!”

I gave Aura the signal to move out once I thought everyone was on board, but...

“Heeeey! Wait, Tenma!”

“W-Wait! Mmph!”

I heard Amur shout right after we had started moving. I hopped up on the roof to see what was going on and saw her sprinting towards us while giving Kriss simultaneous karate chops to her sides on the way.

“Amur! We’ll wait. Just grab Kriss!”

Kriss writhed on the ground in agony from the sneak attack.

“Oof... So annoying... Argh, so heavy...” Amur grabbed Kriss by her belt and dragged her towards the wagon, complaining all the way.

“Ouch! I can walk, you know!” Kriss managed to get on her feet and stumbled over on her own, but judging by the way she was limping and wincing with every step, the attack had clearly done a number on her.

Once those two were finally on board, I turned to Aura. “All right, now let’s get going for real.”

“T-Tenma, slow down! I’m begging you!”

Apparently, the carriage was shaking so much that it made the pain in Kriss’s ribs worse. We had to stop and hit her with a healing spell before we could continue.

Part Seven

I arrived in Sagan five days after the practice battles with the improved golem. Gramps and I had parted ways just before reaching the city, but as soon as I arrived, I made a beeline straight for the dungeon. I used the warp points to dive all the way down to a convenient milestone at the sixtieth floor.

“I guess I’ll start from around here.”

I checked out the map Galatt had given me. Before I activated my knight golem, I took some time to memorize the route that would lead me down to a few more floors.

“Let’s charge straight ahead! Defeat anything that comes near!” I ordered it.

I had armed the golem with a heavy two-handed sword instead of the practice staff it had used in the mock battle. However, the golem handled it with just one hand, effortlessly swinging the blade around.

“Not bad. Monsters are coming right to us. This is a perfect training opportunity.”

The sound of the knight golem’s clattering armor echoed as we ran, attracting swarm after swarm of monsters that came charging right at us. If it were just me, I’d just outrun them, but I wasn’t going to ditch the golem, so I had to slow down. That allowed the faster monsters to catch up with us. By the time we were engaged in combat, the slower ones had closed in too. Some even ambushed us to block our path up ahead, leaving us totally surrounded. But even so, this was just the kind of situation I wanted to expose the knight golem to. I held back and let it handle all the fighting.

“This would be a problem if we were on the upper floors, but the only ones who can get this deep down are Jin’s crew or Gramps and his party. That means I can fight without worrying,” I said to myself, glancing sideways just in time to see the knight golem cleave through a horde of goblins charging at it. It sliced them down with one sweep of its blade.

“Still, it’s not all that different from when I had it fight normal golems. I’ll hold back until we run into something stronger once things settle down.”

I didn’t see much of a discrepancy in how the knight golem had sparred with my other golems compared to how it was swatting aside these weaklings. So, after that point, I decided to only sic the knight golem on larger groups of strong enemies.

“It’s just a waste of time otherwise,” I muttered.

Every monster we lured in left a corpse behind, and it wasn’t very sanitary to just let them rot down here in a confined space. If there were an outbreak of disease down here, it would be a catastrophe—and my fault. That meant I had to dispose of all the bodies properly. I could burn them or haul them away, but considering the layout of this dungeon, hauling them away would be quicker. Still, at this pace, the sheer volume of bodies being created was insane. It was better for me to save the golem’s training fights for monsters whose remains I could actually utilize later.

I decided to adjust my original strategy. Once this area was clear of monsters, I collected the bodies and stashed them in my bag. Then, I put the knight golem in my magic bag and took off running again.

“I can avoid most monsters completely by combining Galatt’s map and Detection.”

Sometimes it meant taking a detour, but once I judged my surroundings to be safe enough, I just slipped past enemies. I shook off any pursuers or ambushed them quickly before moving on.

“I made it to the sixty-fifth floor on the first day, huh? I’ll hit the bottom in about a week if I can keep up this pace. They did mention things get way tougher past the seventieth floor, though, so it might be more realistic to clear one floor a day.”

I managed to break through five floors before the day ended, thanks to pushing a little hard. I could’ve forced my way deeper, but when I found a decent spot to camp, I called it a day.

Things had gone well so far, but I knew it wouldn’t be this easy forever. The lower levels I had been working through were said to be relatively simple. The Dawnswords had told me that even without a map, it hadn’t been that much trouble. But past the seventieth floor, the terrain got rough, and the monsters became stronger and trickier to defeat.

On the other hand, they told me that around the ninetieth floor, the passage down wasn’t that far from the one leading upward, which meant that a floor could be cleared in less than a day. Apparently, the Dawnswords had wasted time because they hadn’t thought that the entrance to the next floor would be right next to the staircase.

“I owe them big time if I make it to the bottom.”

Jin and the Dawnswords had spent years learning all of this, but I might reach the final floor in just a few months—or maybe even just one, at this pace. I had no idea how I could repay them properly, but I could figure that out later.

“First things first, though. I want to hit the seventieth floor tomorrow.”

I set that goal before quickly cooking up a beef bowl. After I ate, I tossed the unwashed bowl into my magic bag. The food scraps wouldn’t rot or grow bacteria being stored like that, and leaving it saved me water and time to boot. It wasn’t my usual practice, but it was a common adventurer trick. But actually, I was doing it for a particular reason this time.

“This is the first time I’ve camped without Rocket around...”

I hadn’t brought my followers along on this trip. Instead, I had left them behind to support Gramps’s group when they would follow me later, since it would be a little too difficult for Gramps to back up the girls all by himself. Also, I had left Goldie and Silvie at the mansion to do as they pleased, which was mainly spinning thread. Rocket was the most reliable follower I had, so I trusted him to help out Gramps and his party.

But under normal circumstances, he was the one who took care of cleaning my gear. Without him, I had to rely on other adventurer shortcuts.

Come to think of it, Rocket and I had been basically inseparable since I was little. He’d even been there on my first night hunt with Dad in the Elder Forest. He’d been by my side through almost all my adventures. And honestly, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they had been our adventures.

“It’s kinda lonely when I put it like that... But Jeanne and the others’ safety comes first, so it was the right call.”

And so it was time for me to spend my first night in the dungeon.

I brought candles that’d been marked with hourly intervals so I could keep track of time. I’d measured how much they had burned down in still air beforehand and then made identical ones with hash marks scratched into them. I connected the candles so I could keep track of the hours and days with only a few minor errors.

Normally, I kept them in my dimension bag and only took them out so I could swap them. If this method worked out reliably, I planned to keep using it. Maybe I could even turn them into a product through my connections with Duke Sanga. Of course, using them that way required a dimension bag (or at least a lantern that blocked wind), and you’d need to make precautions so the flame wouldn’t go out. But if you could do all that, these candles would be a clever and valuable addition to somebody’s supplies.

“I’d better swap the candle out before I sleep. I’ll leave a few golems standing guard.”

I sealed the area to keep out monsters and insects, just like I always did when sleeping in a dungeon. I deployed a few golems as deterrents and also stationed the knight golem as a guard just in case.

After that, I experienced the quietest and loneliest campout of my life that night.

“You’re saying you made it down here in a month?” Jin asked in disbelief.

“A month and ten days, to be exact,” I said.

“That’s basically the same thing!” he said, raising his voice.

“It took us years,” Galatt said. “Knowing that you cleared it in about a month makes us feel kinda, you know...”

“Useless?” Mennas suggested.

“Pathetic?” Leena asked.

“Yeah, that. Although I guess I can’t complain. I knew this would happen. It just proves once again that Tenma’s a beast. But there’s no point in dwelling on it.”

“Well, I did have Galatt’s map. Without that, I would’ve been stuck down here for years too.”

It seemed like the Dawnswords felt differently about it, but at least Galatt seemed a bit more cheerful once I mentioned the map.

I had been diving in the dungeon for a little over a month when I finally made it to the bottom floor. I ran into the Dawnswords down there because they were gathering materials near the lower levels, so that’s how we ended up having this conversation. Galatt and the others looked at me with exasperation, while Jin seemed pretty depressed.

“Seriously, we all knew Tenma would catch up in two or three months. Sure, we didn’t think it’d be this soon, but like you said... It’s basically like the same thing,” Galatt said.

“Right? I mean, I’m a bit heartbroken that our brief moment of superiority has already ended, but there’s no point whining about something we knew was coming,” Leena said. “Anyway, Tenma. How about you head back up and write Primera a letter or something?”

“Yeah, and you might wanna check in with Master Merlin and the others too. Every time we see them up top, they ask if we’ve run into you yet. Last time I saw ’em, they were prepping to dive in themselves, so they’re probably somewhere in the dungeon now,” Mennas said.

Ignoring the fact that Jin was sulking, I asked for any new intel they had. After that, I decided to head back up to the surface. I figured I’d dash off a letter to Primera and then join up with Gramps and his party.

And so that’s how I ended up at the guild, wondering what to write.

I’d never written a letter to a girl before, neither in this life nor in my last. After agonizing for what seemed to be forever, I got to work.

“All right, let’s see... ‘I’ve cleared the dungeon safely and I’m totally fine. I’m looking forward to seeing you again.’ That should be good, right?”

I stared at it for a bit.

“Yeah, no. That’s not going to work at all!” came a voice from behind me. It was Leena, and she sounded exasperated.

Mennas wasn’t impressed either. “See, this is exactly what Leena was worried about. That’s not a letter, Tenma—that’s a status report. I’ll give you some points for effort on that last sentence, but come on! It’s way too short.”

“Yeah, but I have no idea what to write! Isn’t it enough that she knows I’m safe?”

“If you think it’s enough, then I guess it’s fine.”

“This is Tenma we’re talking about. That’s probably the best we’re gonna get,” Leena said with a shrug.

Honestly, if someone got their hands on this letter, there wouldn’t be anything too embarrassing in it, so I could totally play it off. Though it wasn’t like that reasoning would satisfy these two.

“Well, since I’ve got your approval, I’ll go ahead and send it. Hey, Ted! Will you take this to my house in the capital for me? Here’s your payment.”

It sounded like the girls were on board, so if anyone gave me grief for the letter, I could just drag them down with me.

“Sure! Be right back!”

Ted, who had clearly been eavesdropping, rushed over, snatched the gold coin from my hand, and bolted straight out of the guild.

“If anyone teases me about the letter, that means all three of us are getting teased,” I said.

“You jerk! Ted, get back here!”

“Ugh, if we weren’t in town, I’d shoot him out of the sky myself!”

Of course, I didn’t actually tell Primera we wrote the letter together, so Mennas and Leena wouldn’t be part of the joke unless someone told her as much. But the two of them didn’t seem to realize that. They charged out of the guild after Ted, completely oblivious.

Ted probably picked up on the fact that I was using them as a shield. He’d probably hop on his thunderbird and fly off the second he got outside. There was no way they’d catch him.

“All right, I’d better head back into the dungeon and start looking for Gramps before those two come back.”

I could’ve used a break, but I could rest inside the dungeon too. Right now, my first priority was avoiding these two.

“Well, make sure you’re back in a couple of days, tops. If I run into Master Merlin, I’ll tell him you’re planning to come up soon,” Galatt said.

I told him I’d head back to the surface if I didn’t find Gramps in two to three days, and to sweeten the deal, I offered to cover part of his tab. He looked pleased when I handed him a gold coin, but Jin was already so wasted that he didn’t notice.

“Don’t go swiping that just because Jin didn’t see it, got it?” I warned.

“I wouldn’t do that! If I tried and he found out, he’d be on me about it for weeks.”

That made it sound like Galatt would if he thought he could get away with it. Anyway, a few other adventures saw me hand over the coin, so Jin would probably find out anyway.

I handed him another gold coin. “And use this when Mennas and Leena come back.”

Galatt took the coin with a wry smile on his face. “You know, you could just not mess with them and save yourself the hush money.”

“Hey, what can I do if it just comes up in natural conversation?”

Maybe 20,000G was overkill for a bribe and peace offering, but I figured it was a fair price for the info they had given me. Not that I’d ever say that out loud. It was too embarrassing.

“All right, fine. I’ll treat them to some food and drinks and tell them it was your treat. That way, if they start complaining, I can say they already took the bribe. Oh, and Jin and I are eating too, just so you know.”

Galatt had clearly understood I was just repaying a favor, so he kept things light.

“Then I’m counting on you to keep them off my back.”

After I made sure the coast was clear, I left the guild and headed towards the dungeon. For a moment, I wondered if they would try to ambush me near the entrance, but I safely made it back down to the sixtieth floor.

“All right, let’s start the search from here.”

This was the same level we’d reached when we last dove together, so it made sense for me to start from the same spot if I wanted to run into them.

“I could bring out the golems, but they’re slow. And if Gramps and the others are nearby, Jeanne and Aura might get caught in that mess. It’s better to go solo.”

The golems had gotten a lot more efficient lately, but if they swarmed while the others were nearby, things could get dicey. I decided to ignore the weaklings and press ahead, just like I had before.

“Five orcs, huh? All right, golem. You take care of it.”

I ran into a perfect little group of monsters on the way to the rest point on the sixty-fifth floor. I gave the golem the condition that it could only aim for the monsters’ heads.

“This isn’t even a fair fight anymore.”

The golem cleanly sliced off three of the orcs’ heads and bashed the other two in. Guess that restriction hadn’t slowed it down much.

“Well, it’ll make butchering easier.”

I pulled the golem away and headed for the rest spot with a nice little souvenir for Shiromaru and the others.

“Hm? These footsteps aren’t mine... Did Gramps and the others pass through here?”

They’d probably be hitting up the same rest spots I used if it were them. It wouldn’t be surprising if they were following Galatt’s map too.

“Well, if they’re using the same routes I did, we’ll probably cross paths sooner or later.”

If I kept that in mind while searching, it’d make it easier to track them down too.

“In that case, maybe I should just rest up a bit and keep moving instead of camping out here till morning.”

Because of my previous run, I already knew how strong the monsters were in this area. I could afford to push on for now as long as I was careful once I went past floor seventy.

“A quick meal, a short break, and then back on the move. You’re on lookout duty.”

I’d developed a bad habit of talking to myself and the golems lately, probably because I’d been solo dungeon diving for so long. I made a mental note to cut back on muttering to myself so much.

But first, I needed to eat.

Luckily, I had enough beef bowls on me to last maybe one or two meals, and I’d picked up some fruit earlier when I had gone back to the surface. On top of that, I had some food stored in my magic bag to begin with, so I was covered, nutritionally speaking.

“Eating alone really sucks,” I said to myself.

I hadn’t ever realized before how boring it was to eat by yourself. Up until now, I’d pretty much always had someone else around.

“Maybe I should’ve brought Goldie and Silvie along after all...”

Those two were basically hermits, but since this was the Sagan dungeon, they might’ve come out for a bit during breaks. This had originally been their home, after all. Maybe they even would’ve kept me company a little.

With that thought in mind, I lit a short candle that was a leftover stub from one I had used as a timer. I told the golem to wake me when it burned out and then lay down to catch some sleep.

“Still no sign of them, huh?” I asked no one in particular.

I’d made it down to the seventieth floor, but Gramps and the others were nowhere to be found.

“Guess I’ll sleep for a bit and then start the search again.”

It was still just before noon, according to the candle. I had no clue what floor they were on, but if they were following Galatt’s map, I’d catch up eventually. If I didn’t, I could just wait on the surface.

“If I find them, great. If not, oh well. Still, I really should’ve asked Jin what floor he saw them on...”

If I’d done that, I could’ve started just a few floors behind them. It was too late for that now, though.

“Oh, well. I’ll eat, take a nap, and... Wait, something’s nearby!”

I couldn’t shake the feeling that something was off, so I activated Detection and scanned the area.

“Oh, great. I’m surrounded by anacondas and centipedes.”

A bunch of dark rubber anacondas and giganto death centipedes were lurking around me, hiding in the shadows and cracks in the walls. There were three of each, and they were all eyeing me like I was their next meal. I had let my guard down earlier, but they hadn’t attacked yet—probably because they were keeping each other in check.

“I’ll handle the anacondas. I’ll let the golem take the centipedes.”

Letting the golem handle the centipedes would ruin most of the spoils from them, but the anacondas were way more valuable. I couldn’t risk their parts getting wrecked.

I pulled the knight golem from my magic bag and gave my orders. “Golem! Take out the centipedes hiding over there! Don’t worry about giving me backup!”

The golem smashed the rock I pointed at, exposing a panicked centipede. The monster scrambled out into the open.

“Huh. The anacondas came out too? All right, here we go!”

Startled by the impact, the anacondas left their hiding places. They’d been the ones watching me earlier, but now, they were the ones giving me openings. I aimed at the one farthest back and threw my knife. It landed straight into its eye—a clean hit.

“That one’s not going anywhere. I’ll clean up the rest first.”

The wounded one started thrashing about, taking the other two with it. As the two up front left themselves wide open, I closed the distance between us in a flash. I took the first one’s head clean off, then spun around and split the second one’s skull right down the middle.

“I better wait for that one with the knife to tire itself out. Man, these things are such a pain to slice.”

The first kill had some momentum behind it, so it’d been a clean cut. Since I had hit the second one’s skull, the cut was jagged and messy. It didn’t really matter, though—I didn’t need the heads anyway.

Still, even with a rough cut, the fact that this had gone way smoother than the first time I’d used kogarasumaru made me realize how much I’d grown. It felt kinda good.

Anyway, the two anacondas I’d taken down were still twitching. Their nerves were firing off like crazy.

“I guess it’s like how lizard tails move, except it’s way more disturbing at this size. Either way, it sounds like the first one’s settled down by now.”

I left those two for now since they were basically dead, and turned back to the first one I’d attacked—the one with the blade still stuck in its eye. It’d stopped moving, so I assumed the blade had reached its brain. I lopped off its head easily. Its body didn’t even twitch afterward.

“Now, time to see how the golem’s doing. Oh, wow.” I turned around just in time to see the golem ripping the top half off one of the centipedes.

One was already dead nearby, its head crushed and body torn apart. The last one was pinned to the ground by a giant sword and thrashing like mad.

“What, did a demonic soul possess this thing or something?”

Obviously not, but could you really blame me for thinking that?

The golem slammed the severed head of the centipede into the ground as if to answer my question, crushing it to a pulp. Then, without missing a beat, it brought its heel down on the head of the last one and stomped straight through it.

It was definitely a gruesome sight, but I’d ordered it to finish the job, and it sure did. It had wiped out three Rank B monsters in no time. The gore was a minor detail. Probably.

“Yeah, the centipede parts are totally trashed.”

All three of them had their upper halves shredded, and the heads were in the roughest shape of all. That meant all the valuable parts, like their venom sacs and their armored shells, were totally unusable.

On the other hand, the anacondas were practically pristine. Their meat and materials would fetch a high price...if I had been planning on selling them at all.

“Dinner’s sorted at least. But first, I gotta clean up the golem.”

The knight golem was filthy. It was covered in a mixture of centipede fluids and venom, with dirt and dust caked on too. If I didn’t clean it properly, all that could cause it to jam up. Furthermore, it’d be a disaster if someone were to touch it while it had venom on it.

“All right, let me rinse this golem off, let it dry, and then oil all its joints.”

I scrubbed the golem clean, making sure no residue was left. Once it dried, I oiled it up. After all that, it moved even more smoothly than before. Regular maintenance was a must, just like with armor.

Once the golem was all set, I had it cycle through a few motions that would help the oil to spread evenly inside it. After that, I left it on standby while I butchered some of the anaconda meat and grilled it.

It turned out pretty delicious. It was definitely worth having a proper anaconda barbecue next time with everyone. It was a good thing it was tasty—I had so much of it. The three snakes had all been between six and eight meters long and weighed a hundred to two hundred kilos each. We’d still have leftovers even if I fed some to all my friends.

“Well, I’m full. Now I can finally... Oh, guess I’m not sleeping after all.”

I’d just pulled out my bed when I heard a howl echoing from the distance—Shiromaru’s. He was probably just below this floor. He must’ve heard the golem fighting and realized I was nearby.

“It sounds like monsters are gathering too.”

If I could hear him, so could every monster within range. Just like when I’d lured them all with the golems.

“I’m sure Gramps can handle it, but if there are too many, it could get ugly. Let’s move, now!”

If things got really bad, Jeanne and Aura would probably hide inside Rocket. But if the group of them were to get overwhelmed in a tight space, it would be too risky for me to wait.

“They’re holding up okay, but that’s a lot of enemies. Gramps! I’m here to back you up! Don’t get me by mistake!” I yelled.

“Tenma! Great timing! Let’s go!”

I dropped down to the next floor and headed towards the noise. There, I found Gramps and the others completely surrounded. There were easily over a hundred orcs, and some of them were higher-ranked variants. There was probably an orc king somewhere.

“Guess I’ll thin the numbers first. Charge, golem!”

We clearly had the upper hand in terms of raw power, but Gramps couldn’t risk using his big spells—if he did, the ceiling might collapse. Amur couldn’t swing her bardiche properly in such a cramped space. Shiromaru didn’t have the room to maneuver here either, and Solomon couldn’t even get airborne.

Honestly, the only one who looked like they could still fight normally was Rocket, but he had Jeanne and Aura tucked inside of him. He was sticking to supporting the others from the back.

“Well, with this many decently strong monsters, I guess getting bogged down is kinda expected,” I said.

Their base power was in a completely different league, even if they couldn’t go all out, so there was no chance they’d lose to this mob. It was just taking longer because of how many enemies were here.

But that all changed the moment my knight golem burst in from behind the monsters and started swinging around like a berserker. It was brute-forcing its way through with sheer strength. In seconds, the whole fight had flipped to be in our favor.

“The orcs are panicking, so it’s time to find the boss... There he is.”

I activated Detection and Identify on the chaotic battlefield and found the orc king on the opposite side, just past where Amur was fighting.

“Trying to ditch your minions and run, huh? I gotta admit, that’s pretty smart for an orc.”

It seemed like he had rushed in hard when the situation was in his favor, but was gonna bail the second things went south.

“He might’ve actually made it out had he fled a little earlier.”

The orc’s numbers had already been dwindling even before the golem crashed the party. Either the king hadn’t realized they were losing, or he’d thought he could win just by wearing us down. Either way, that hesitation had cost him everything—his rank, his glory, and his life. Smarter than the average orc or not, in the end, he was still just an orc.

“Amur! See the big one trying to sneak off? That’s the boss! Take him down!” I called.

“Got it!”

Amur used the nearby orcs as stepping stones and launched herself towards the king. Her bardiche sank deep into the orc king’s neck.

“Enemy commander neutralized!” she cried out.

Now that their boss was dead, the orcs panicked, like someone had flipped a switch. The coordinated mob from moments ago turned into a mess with orcs shoving each other aside as they scrambled to flee.

“Rocket! It’s safe now!” I yelled. “You can let Jeanne and Aura out to go after them!”

We needed all the manpower we could get. I summoned a few more golems and sent them after the retreating orcs. Some of them counterattacked half-heartedly, but their morale was already in the gutter. We had the momentum.

Those orcs never stood a chance. We crushed every last one of them without breaking stride.

“So much meat!”

“Yeah, it’s almost too much...”

“I’m kinda getting nauseous...”

A lot of them got away, but the floor was still littered with corpses. The heavy odor of blood in the air was enough to make your stomach churn.

“All right, first things first. Collect the meat!” I ordered.

It was way too much for us to do alone, so I made the golems do it. We split up to coordinate the effort, and I issued detailed instructions when needed.

“You got here pretty fast,” Gramps said.

“Galatt’s map was spot-on, and the knight golem performed way better than I expected,” I told him.

The golem could handle a few Rank B monsters without breaking a sweat. It didn’t get tired, so I could have it on standby while I slept, and it worked just fine as a shield on the front lines.

“It’s pretty handy for watching our backs,” I said.

Getting ambushed when you were surrounded was a worst-case scenario, so it was great that we didn’t have to worry about that.

“If golems like this ever hit the market, it would completely change how parties work,” Gramps commented.

Adventurers basically fell into three categories. They would either go solo, have followers, or team up with other adventurers. Working with people or followers could lead to communication issues. And going solo raised the difficulty across the board. But a golem took orders, didn’t complain, and didn’t need to be babysat.

“Solo adventurers would definitely jump at getting them. Same for the socially awkward types. But golems this good aren’t easy to make, and who knows how long it’ll take before adventurers can actually carry them around,” I said.

It could be years, decades, or even centuries from now. Maybe they’d be a reality for royalty or nobility soon. But it was unlikely that they’d be mass-produced for commoners.

“Anyway, where’s the one who caused this whole orc ambush? Shiromaru!” I scanned around, ready to lecture him...and found him already lying on his back, staring at me.

“Shiromaru, doesn’t that position hurt?” Jeanne asked.

He had his legs and arms stretched out stiff, exposing his belly in full “Please forgive me!” mode.

“It’s hard to stay mad when he looks like that,” I said.

His ridiculous pose took the edge off my anger.

“But nope. I’m not letting you off that easily. Get over here, Shiromaru.” I was pretty sure he had smirked at me for half a second, but I called him over anyway. It was time for the lecture he’d earned.

“Come on, Tenma. Cut him some slack. He just got excited to see you again,” Gramps said.

I ended up letting Shiromaru go mid-lecture, but Rocket nabbed him anyway. It turned out that even if we forgave him, it didn’t mean he was off the hook. Rocket gave him a proper lecture of his own.

“So, Gramps, how far down did you get?” I asked.

“We got to floor seventy-one. But keeping Jeanne and Aura safe down there was a bit tricky, so we were heading back up to let them get more used to the dungeon. That’s when Shiromaru bolted,” he explained.

Shiromaru had heard the fighting and caught my scent, just like I’d thought. If he’d just stayed put, we wouldn’t have gotten surrounded by orcs, but I guess I couldn’t really blame him. He had just gotten a little too excited. Honestly, as his handler, it kind of made me happy.

“So what now? You planning to come with us to the bottom, or are you heading back to the capital for now?” I asked.

“Either way, we’re almost out of food, so I think we should return to the surface,” Gramps said.

At that point, a new theory began to take shape in my head. Maybe Shiromaru wasn’t excited to see me—maybe he was just excited about food.

“I’m hungry, Tenma,” complained Amur.

“All right, all right. Let’s head back. I was about to get some sleep anyway. We’ll regroup on the surface and then talk about our next move.”

I still had plenty of supplies, but this felt like the right time to take a break. We headed back up and decided to eat and talk inside the carriage. We borrowed some space on Amy’s family’s property to park it like we always did.

“Also, we need to talk about what to do with all that orc meat,” I said.

“We’re eating it, obviously!” Amur seemed dead set on claiming it all, but who knew how many years that much meat would last? Then again, in our household? It might not even last a year.

In the end, we decided to keep only the best cuts and sell the rest. It was a majority vote with Gramps, Jeanne, Aura, and me all saying yes. Amur, Shiromaru, and Solomon were clearly not thrilled, but they came around pretty quickly once I promised them some anaconda meat for dinner.

The real surprise came later while we were on the surface talking, though. Word somehow got out about the barbecue, and next thing we knew, the Dawnswords and the whole Tamers’ guild showed up. So just like that, nearly one orc’s worth of meat was gone in a flash.

“Gramps, over here.”

After our barbecue and having talked it over, we decided to keep diving for as long as we could over the next month. We took a few days off to regroup first and then went back into the dungeon.

“You’re picking our route pretty well. There’s not a monster in sight,” he said.

I was using Detection and Identify to steer us towards paths with fewer monsters, of course, but explaining that was too much of a hassle. Instead, I just told everyone that I was following the route I had used last time.

“Hold up. Three goblins ahead,” I warned. “It doesn’t seem like they’ve noticed us yet. Jeanne and Aura, you two take them.”

“Got it,” they said.

The girls slipped behind some nearby rocks with Gramps and lay in wait for the goblins to get close. I took cover a bit farther away with Amur and Rocket, ready to jump in if things went sideways.

Gramps tossed a rock to lure the goblins in.

He gave the signal once they got close enough. “Now!”

The girls leaped out at them.

“Take this!”

“Yaaah!”

“Kreeee! Gyah... Ack...”

“Sorry, Tenma!”

Apparently, taking down three of them at once was a bit too much for the girls. One of the goblins caught on mid-attack and opened its mouth to scream for help. I hadn’t wanted to step in unless I had to, but it didn’t look like either of them would be fast enough to silence it in time. I hurled a dagger at its mouth to buy them a couple of seconds. Jeanne used that opening to take its head off.

“You two’ll need to work on finishing faster. Still, it was two on three, and there were no injuries, so I’d say not bad for now.”

“You’re being way too soft, Gramps,” Amur said with a pout.

“Well, Jeanne and Aura weren’t meant to fight in the vanguard like you, Amur. They’ve only been trained to defend themselves in case something goes wrong,” he pointed out.

Still, even fighting as two against three shouldn’t have been too much against goblins. Taking care of things quickly was still a challenge, though.

Amur didn’t seem thrilled about Gramps’s lenient feedback for the girls either. “I’ll handle the next one and show them how it’s done,” she said. Then, she swapped out her usual spear or bardiche for a sword—something she didn’t use often. She probably figured it’d make for a better demonstration.

Gramps agreed that it was a good idea and told the girls to pay attention, but...

“No monsters anywhere...”

Of course—just when we actually wanted to find one, there were no monsters around. It wasn’t just bad luck, though. I had been intentionally picking routes that were light on monsters, so even if I tried heading towards some, it was hard to find some small goblin packs like we’d run into before. And the ones we did spot were either too big or had advanced variants mixed in. Fighting them would only waste time, so we had to let it go.

“Let’s take a break once we clear this floor, Gramps,” I said. “There’s a good rest spot just past the staircase.”

It had been two days since we’d resumed dungeon diving, and we were coming up on the seventy-fifth floor. I figured it would take longer to get here since we were training Jeanne and Aura, but thanks to the extra manpower, our pace so far wasn’t that different from when I was going solo.

“Let’s rest here for today. There’s enough space, so we should be able to take out the carriage without a problem.”

That meant we could take baths. Jeanne and Aura looked thrilled about it.

“I’ll leave a golem disguised as a boulder to keep watch outside. The monsters around here shouldn’t be too much trouble, so you can all relax.”

I built some quick walls and made a shelter for us to rest in, like usual. If something like a minotaur were to notice us inside, it could bust through with a single hit. That’s why I left the disguised golem outside to keep watch. If anything tried to break through the wall, the golem would either stop it or at least stall it to buy us some time. That would be enough for Gramps or me to get out there and deal with it.

“We’ll eat the food we brought, so just grab whatever you want. And when you take a bath, shut the carriage door and lock the bathroom.”

I always stayed out of the carriage when the girls were bathing, but I made sure they locked the door, just in case.

“That reminds me, Tenma...” Gramps began. “How strong did your knight golem get? It was tearing through the orcs, but you had it fight regular golems too, right?”

Orcs were weaker than standard golems, so he was saying that an orc fight wasn’t a good benchmark to gauge the knight golem’s strength.

“Right now it’s strong enough to stop a charging minotaur head-on, shove it back, and split its skull in one blow,” I said.

When I had been exploring the dungeon alone, I had come across a minotaur near the bottom levels and had decided to give the knight golem a shot at it. It had met its charge head-on, pushed it back, stunned it with a body slam, and then cracked the thing’s skull open. The encounter had messed up the joints in its left wrist and shoulder a bit from the impact, but I had been able to fix those on the spot.

“So even a Rank A monster couldn’t stop it?”

Honestly, I thought it might already be on par with Rank S monsters.

“The scorpion golems are monsters, but this knight one is on a whole different level,” I said.

The scorpion’s strength came from its sheer size and weight. The knight, however, showed its strength through performance. It was both big and strong.

I pulled the minotaur’s split skull out of my dimension bag. Gramps looked shocked. Meanwhile, Shiromaru and Solomon gave me puppy dog eyes like they thought a treat was coming.

“How far do you think we can go in a month, Tenma?” he asked.

“I’d call it a win if we make it to the ninetieth floor.”

So far, we had been keeping the same pace as I had solo. But Jeanne and Aura were going to be pushed to their limits from here on out. Even Amur might start to struggle too. And once that happened, it would slow our progress. That was why making it to floor ninety would be impressive.

“I think eighty-five would be good enough, but who knows. How fast did you go on your own?” Gramps asked.

“Let’s see... I mostly avoided monsters or hid. If I got spotted, I ran. Sometimes I’d let the golems out to train them, but once they took something down, I collected the golems and monsters and escaped from any pursuers. I never fought more than one group at a time.”

Fighting was noisy, and noise attracted monsters. That meant that after every fight, I had to grab the materials and make a break for it. If I were to stick around too long to fight a second group, a third or even a fourth wave could show up before I could finish. Slipping past the monsters instead of engaging them would make things faster and easier.

“I took two or three breaks a day. Other than that, I was on the move.”

“Two to three breaks solo, huh? So with the whole group, we should probably take four or five... Yeah, I’d say the eighty-fifth floor sounds like a good goal.”

Gramps added that Jeanne, Aura, and Amur would start to get fatigued after a while, and that would slow us down. Since we had five people and three followers moving around, we were likely to get spotted, which meant more fights. And more fights meant more exhaustion. Well, except for me, apparently.

Honestly, it kind of sounded like he thought I didn’t get tired. But fighting took a lot out of you than running ever could, so I guess my solo pace wasn’t the best benchmark after all.

“Well, I guess it can’t be helped,” I said. “Worst case, I’ll just say I went all the way down to the bottom floor as Oracion’s representative. That way, no one can complain if I take you and the others with me. We might as well go slow and focus on safety.”

After spending a month going solo and pushing for speed over everything else, I guess I’d lost my sense of how to operate in a party.

“It’s only natural to get out of sync. And given what’s coming up, I understand why you’d want to push forward. But if something were to happen to Jeanne or Aura because of that, people might not be so quick to celebrate. And let’s not forget you’re the leader of Oracion, Tenma. That means you need to keep your party members in mind at all times.”

While I was listening to Gramps’s solemn warning, Shiromaru and Solomon went to his side and started staring at me. I thought for a second.

“Are you guys hungry or something?” I asked. Their tails started wagging like crazy. “All right, I guess I’ll grill up some orc meat.”

We had a lot of orc in stock, so I whipped up a quick meal for Shiromaru and Solomon. It was nothing fancy, though—just grilled meat tossed in with a handful of chopped veggies and some cooked rice.

“If either of you spits out your vegetables, I’ll put even more in tomorrow,” I warned after they both looked like they were about to sneakily do just that. They reluctantly swallowed what was in their mouths with grimaces on their faces.

“Tenma, can I have some meat too?” Amur emerged from the bath in the carriage, drawn in by the aroma of grilling meat. I glanced towards the carriage and saw Aura peeking out from behind the door, which meant Jeanne wouldn’t be too far behind.

“It’s nothing special,” I said.

I’d originally planned to just heat up something we’d bought, so I wasn’t sure how I ended up in charge of dinner. But I figured I might as well cook up enough stir-fried meat and veggies for everybody.

“All right, listen while you eat,” I said. “According to the schedule, we’re leaving for the capital in twenty-five days. If we factor in some rest days before we leave Sagan, that gives us about twenty days to dungeon dive. So, I wanna set our goal for floor eighty-five this time.”

We were ten floors away from the eighty-fifth floor, which meant we could spend roughly two days per floor.

“Tenma, we should set the goal higher! You made it to the bottom floor in just one month. Together, we can definitely get farther!” Amur protested.

“Okay. If we run nonstop all day with no breaks and no time for rest, twenty days will be more than enough to reach the bottom floor.”

“Never mind! Eighty-five it is!” She backpedaled immediately.

Well, it wasn’t like I’d run all day either, but I had spent more than half a day sprinting quite a few times. Otherwise, there was no way I could’ve cleared forty floors in just over a month.

“Anyway, it’s important to rest properly whenever we take a break. We’re not gonna sprint the whole way, but we’re definitely gonna run into situations where we need to be at full strength.”

I only said that because Gramps had just given me that pep talk about being a good leader. Amur and the others listened seriously as I spoke, but Gramps was smirking behind their backs. Yeah, he knew I was just parroting his words to sound like a proper leader.

“Well then, now that our fearless leader’s speech is done, I guess it’s time for me to hit the bath!” Gramps said.

“Oh, the bathwater’s clean. I scrubbed the tub down earlier! But the water’s probably gone cold, so I’ll go reheat it.” Jeanne then started towards the carriage, but Gramps stopped her, saying he could handle it himself.

Normally, changing bathwater in the middle of a dungeon dive would be ridiculously indulgent. Hell, even having a bath down here was a luxury. But with our group, we had plenty of magic users and could set up secure rest areas, which meant this kind of thing was possible.

“Don’t worry about the cleanup. Just focus on getting some rest while we’re here in the dungeon. Especially you, Jeanne and Aura.”

I gave them one last reminder before heading towards the carriage myself. The two girls stopped prepping the dishes and sat back down without a word.

“I’ll have a knight golem stand guard. If you’re sleepy, don’t hesitate to just crash out. Gramps and I have it covered.”

I laid out a couple of beds near the edge of camp, and sure enough, Jeanne and Aura collapsed onto them before I even made it into the carriage. Rocket curled up underneath them, so they’d be fine, even if monsters did show up.

“Don’t eat too much. And make sure to eat your veggies too,” I told Amur, who was still up.

“I’ll try my best!”

Apparently, what I’d cooked wasn’t enough for her—she’d already started grilling more meat for herself. She had her usual two companions next to her, of course, hoping for some scraps. I told her to eat her veggies for the sake of balance, but I could tell by the look on her face that wasn’t going to happen.

After Gramps was done, I took a bath. When I came out, I found Shiromaru and Solomon both lying on their backs with bulging bellies. They had bits of food all over their mouths.

I shook my head. “You two look stuffed to the gills.”

I looked around for Rocket, wondering where he’d gone, and found him curled up in bed with Aura. She was using him as a pillow.

“Well, I guess I’ll get some sleep too.”

Seeing Shiromaru and Solomon so blissed out somehow made me sleepy. I set up a bed for myself a short distance away from the girls and lay down for the night.

A few hours later...

“Mmph!”

I bolted upright at a loud noise. It sounded like someone had gotten crushed.

“M-My nose...”

When I looked over, I saw Aura curled up on the floor with her hands over her face. I could see red seeping out from between her fingers.

“Aura, what the heck are you doing? Come here, I’ll treat it.”

Jeanne woke up from the commotion, rubbed her eyes, and pulled a first aid kit from her magic bag.

“No, ish aw-kay...” Aura started muttering.

“You’re gonna mess me up if you keep talking! Be quiet for a sec!” Jeanne scolded.

Gramps sat up when he heard the noise, looked at the girls, and then promptly went back to sleep. Amur just rolled over in bed and didn’t even stir.

“All right, all done. Don’t take out the gauze until the bleeding stops,” Jeanne said.

“Okay...”

Aura’s nose was still red, and the gauze stuffed into both nostrils made her look ridiculous.

“Aura, try not to fall out of bed this time, yeah?” I teased.

“I didn’t fall! Amur shoved me off!” she retorted.

Apparently, she’d woken up, feeling something pressing down heavily on her stomach, only to find Amur lying face down right on top of her. And not like, using her as a pillow. Amur’s entire torso had been sprawled across Aura’s stomach.

And when she had tried to gently move Amur aside, Amur had grabbed her hand and tossed her off the bed, leaving her to land face-first onto the floor.

“I’ll set up another bed for you, Aura,” I said.

“Thanks!”

I considered moving Amur to the new bed instead, but since Aura was the one who was awake, it’d be easier to move her. And given the very real risk of her getting kicked out of another bed if I were to move Amur, I figured it was just safer to let Aura take the new one. She seemed relieved that the threat of another bloody nose was off the table.

The next morning, I confronted Amur about the commotion.

“I vaguely remember throwing someone. It felt like they were being sketchy...”

She kind of owned up to it, but she was also acting like it wasn’t completely her fault. That little line was enough to muddy the waters, and even Jeanne was starting to side with Amur. She seemed convinced that Aura had to have been messing with her.

“I’ll start setting out three beds to keep this from happening again. Jeanne, Aura, get started on breakfast. Amur, help them,” I said.

I shut down the discussion before another blame game could begin and told them to start prepping breakfast. It was time to clear the air with food.

“All right, everybody has their things? Let’s get going!”

“Yeah!” Amur exclaimed.

“Yeah...” Jeanne and Aura muttered in unison. Their responses were definitely less enthusiastic, sounding more like groans than battle cries.

“C’mon, you two! Show some spirit! You could learn a thing or two from me!” Amur said, noticing their lack of excitement. I wasn’t sure if she was trying to encourage them or just brag, but considering that our goal was to reach the bottom floor, it was fair for Jeanne and Aura to be feeling the pressure. If it came down to it, I could have them retreat into Rocket, but for now, Gramps and I were enough to back them up. I figured it was still a good experience for them.

Over the next week, we stuck to our goal of clearing one floor every two days. But by the end of the second week, Jeanne and Aura’s fatigue started building up faster than they could recover. We made it to floor eighty—just five short of our target—when I made the call that our dungeon dive was over.

They both looked really apologetic, but it was clear that they were just running on fumes at that point. Not even Amur teased them. She just quietly went along with my decision to head back.

“All right. Jeanne and Aura, I want you two to fully rest for the next two days. That means no maid duties for you. Actually, you don’t have any duties at all. You two are forbidden from doing anything but resting. We’re still planning on leaving on schedule, so you’re free to do whatever until then. Just make sure to report in if you’re heading into the dungeon or taking on any requests.”

They both insisted that one day of rest would be enough, but I ordered them to take two full days. And if they still weren’t back to full strength after that, I’d extend their rest period again. I wasn’t going to tell them that yet, though.

“I’ll be wandering around town tomorrow. I won’t be dungeon diving or taking on any quests, so no need to wait up for me,” Gramps said. He was probably trying to lighten the girls’ load in his own way, but I still made him promise to come back to the carriage at least once a day, just in case.

“I think I’ll check out some weapons shops and walk around a bit. Maybe do some diving if I feel like it. I’ll let you know beforehand if I do decide to head down there,” Amur said.

And as for me... “I’ll do some shopping in town tomorrow and then hit the dungeon the day after. I’m not going to head to the bottom, though. I just want to clear some middle floors to gather materials.”

I was hoping I’d come across some mythril there. I’d be using Detection to avoid as much combat as possible, so it’d be more of a dungeon stroll than a dungeon dive.

I would’ve liked to bring Shiromaru and the others along, but I decided it was best to be cautious and leave them behind to guard Jeanne and Aura.

“The bath will be open anytime, but don’t forget to lock the carriage when you’re using it. Rocket will be keeping an eye on things, but stay alert,” I told them. “You have permission to handle things however you see fit if some idiot shows up looking for trouble. Try to take them down alive if you can, but if you have to kill them, just make sure no one finds out.”

Jeanne and Aura just stared at me blankly, but Rocket nodded seriously, looking like he was fully prepared to use force if necessary. I could rest easy knowing that the girls would be safe while they recuperated.

“I’ll leave behind some meals we were gonna take into the dungeon. Help yourselves.”

With that, they wouldn’t need to cook, so they could truly take a load off.

We spent the next few days like that. When Aina found out how I’d handled things, she told me I was being way too overprotective of Jeanne and Aura. Maybe I was. Who knows.

“It’s freezing! There’s still a month until the New Year, and we’re already getting snow.”

Snow started falling the moment we left Sagan. By the next day, a thin layer had already covered the plains. It didn’t feel like it’d turn into a blizzard, but I decided to start scouting for a rest spot early, just to be safe. It was better to prepare with plenty of margin for error.

“I’d expect this kind of cold in the capital, but it’s strange for this area. Might be a severe winter this year,” Gramps said. He shivered as he pulled a heavy coat out of his magic bag and slipped it on.

“We should avoid camping outside tonight,” I said. “And let’s shorten driving shifts.”

Camping outdoors could turn deadly with the temperature dropping fast after sundown. And someone just riding up front could get sick if they weren’t careful.

We put up earthen walls high enough to hide the carriage and sealed the area with Wind magic to block out the snow. Even with all that, the cold still crept into our camp from the ground. Our precautions were better than nothing, but it wasn’t exactly toasty and warm.

“Let’s try to stay inside tonight. I’ll put plenty of golem guards on duty,” I said.

“Good idea. It’ll also serve as a good test to see how well the knight golem performs in the cold,” Gramps said. Not even he wanted to spend the night outside. Sure, he threw in that excuse of it being a “test,” but it was obvious he was just trying to avoid the winter’s chill.

Now that the decision had been made, the rest of the group visibly relaxed.

“The only thing is that I don’t want to cook anything too smoky or complicated inside the carriage. So we’ll either have to eat stuff that’s already cooked or something really simple. Which would you guys rather have?” I said.

Soup would be fine, but doing anything like grilling meat would fill the carriage with smoke. That’d be a nightmare with minimal ventilation.

We could cook outside, but no one wanted to brave the cold. The air was tense—everyone was silently praying that no one would suggest something that’d get them stuck as the designated cook.

There was no point in staring each other down all night, so I gave in first. “Why don’t we each just make our own meals tonight? I’ll be having miso soup and rice. Premade sides are good enough for me.”

“I’ll do that too,” Gramps said.

“Sounds good to me. I’ll prepare enough for three,” Jeanne said, immediately getting started on the miso soup.

“Hey, Tenma. Do we have any pre-grilled meat?” Amur asked.

“Yeah, but it’s for Shiromaru and Solomon, so there’s no seasoning. And there’s not a lot either. If you eat it too, I won’t have enough for them tomorrow.”

One serving for them was enough to serve three people, so even though we’d technically have enough for tonight, we wouldn’t have any for breakfast.

“But I’ll try convincing them to share if you promise to get up early and grill their meat tomorrow,” I said.

The moment I mentioned that tomorrow’s breakfast might be at risk, Shiromaru and Solomon stood on guard between me and Amur. They started to growl like they were ready to fight.

“What if we wake up in the middle of a blizzard?” she said.

“Then you’re still grilling.”

“What if it’s pouring rain and I can’t get a fire going?”

“I’ll build you a roof and you’re still grilling.”

“Jeanne!” Amur yelled. “I’ll have miso soup too!”

After weighing out all the options, Amur gave up on stealing their meat and opted for the same meal as the rest of us. As for Aura, she hadn’t said a single word during all of this, but she had already started helping Jeanne prep the food while Amur and the beasts had been locked in a stare-down.

Once dinner wrapped up, we killed some time with a card game before eventually settling down for the night. There was some debate over how to divide the sleeping arrangements, but we ended up splitting the carriage with a divider to make the space near the bathroom a shared area.

And the next morning...

“I could’ve grilled after all...” Amur grumbled.

There wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the snow was already starting to melt. Amur looked genuinely defeated. Jeanne and Aura felt bad and offered her some meat, so we ended up having grilled meat for breakfast anyway. It wasn’t like anyone here had delicate stomachs, anyway.

After breakfast, we took down the earthen walls and got moving again. It was warmer than yesterday thanks to the sun, but the wind was still freezing, so we definitely needed our coats.

“The ground’s kinda soggy, but Thunderbolt can handle it,” I said.

If things got really bad, we’d have to pack up the carriage into the dimension bag and just ride Thunderbolt himself, but this was a manageable amount of mud for him. Besides, the path we were on was partially packed down already, so I didn’t foresee any difficulties.

And just like I’d figured, Thunderbolt plowed down the muddy road like we were gliding across grass.

Not everyone was so lucky, though. Every other wagon we passed looked like it was having a rough time.

Every now and then, we saw someone who had gotten stuck and was trying to free their carriage wheels with mud-caked arms. Their horses would be straining beside them. Some folks had already given up and were trudging down the road on foot, drenched in mud. They were going to have a rough night without a solid plan for setting up camp later.

Every time we passed a struggling traveler, we were subjected to glares dripping with envy and resentment. Some even tried to ask if they could hitch a ride with us, but once they realized Thunderbolt was a golem and not a regular horse, they backed off pretty quickly. Some still pressed the issue, but we just ignored them. If they kept pushing, I’d have Thunderbolt sprint until they disappeared in our dust.

A few people did approach us more tactfully, framing it as an actual request. I always listened to those types. I turned down anyone asking for a ride, but if they asked for help getting unstuck, I said it would cost 3,000G. If they complained about the price or tried to haggle, we took off.

We were on a schedule after all, and that was a more than fair price. It wasn’t my problem if they couldn’t afford it. However, in rare cases, we did help people for lower prices or even for free, but that was only when Gramps and I felt the circumstances warranted it.

At any rate, we finally made it back to the capital after a few days of travel with a little more money in our pockets.

We had also picked up a familiar face along the way.

“I sure lucked out that you passed by and picked me up, Tenma! I would’ve been stuck out there for another two or three days! Or even worse, gone into hibernation!”

“Yeah, you better say thanks, Lani-tan!” Amur said.

“I did just say thanks—to Tenma! Why are you acting like you did anything?”

The carriage was mine, I had been the one who’d spotted Lani, and it’d been my decision to pick him up. Once that was pointed out, Amur awkwardly reached down and started petting Shiromaru in an attempt to avoid the subject.

We’d found Lani earlier that morning a few kilometers down the road from where we’d made camp. He had been huddled by a fire, shivering. He’d tried to hire a carriage, but luck hadn’t been on his side this time, so he ended up having to walk. After that, he’d gotten caught in the early snowfall. And that had been when we’d just happened to pass by.

For the record, Lani was joking when he said he was going to hibernate. It was a bit of dark beastfolk humor, I guess—he’d actually have frozen to death.

“You’re here a bit earlier than usual. What’s up?” I said.

Normally, Lani only traveled in areas where it snowed after winter ended, and would be gone from there by late autumn. He’d be back in the SAR during the height of winter. I figured that for him to be here, maybe he had some kind of business with me or something.

“Well, I heard an interesting rumor. You wouldn’t happen to be getting married, have you, Tenma?”

I kept my face neutral, because he’d know if I reacted. Instead, I tried to play dumb.

“Well, that confirms it,” he said. “You’d look more panicked if it wasn’t the truth. Since there hasn’t been a wedding yet, I take it you’re engaged?”

He had seen right through me.

“Oh, and for the record, I didn’t confirm it by just your reactions. You’ve gotten a lot better at hiding your emotions since the old days. But...” He glanced behind me. “It was as clear as day with just one look at the girls. I couldn’t read Master Merlin, but honestly, I didn’t expect I would need to. I figured at least one of the ladies would give something away, but I didn’t expect all three of them to make the same face.”

I turned around, and sure enough, they all had the same expression on their faces. Aura was up front driving the carriage, but she had been peeking through the little window.

“Technically, it’s still just some unconfirmed gossip, but one of my colleagues heard a rumor that you might be marrying Duke Sanga’s daughter soon. I came to confirm it, but I expected a tougher time getting the truth. This was almost too easy!” Lani said.

One of his contacts had seen me in Gunjo City when I had been organizing Ceruna’s wedding and had named Primera my partner in officiating. Between that and my long-standing ties with the duke’s family, they’d put two and two together. Once they’d reported it to Lady Hana, she’d sent Lani to investigate.

“Confirming the rumor was my main purpose for coming here, but I did bring some merchandise and a few things I needed to hand over to you. So don’t worry, I’m not here just to be nosy,” he said.

I wasn’t sure if that was meant to be reassuring, but this had to do with Lady Hana, after all. I doubted she’d use the information in a malicious way.

I hadn’t confirmed anything, but I hadn’t denied it either. Still, if Lani had figured it out just by watching the girls, then I might need to let Aina know about that. I couldn’t have this happening again.

Jeanne must’ve sensed what I was thinking because she silently brought over a tray of tea. Amur followed that up with snacks.

“Jeanne, will you get me some tea too?” Gramps, who’d been quietly sitting still his whole time like a statue, suddenly relaxed. He must’ve realized he was off the hook and had convinced himself that none of this was his problem, I guess.

“So let’s say it’s true,” I began. “How would the SAR benefit from it?”

I didn’t think Lady Hana would do anything bad with this info, but I still didn’t understand why she had sent Lani all the way to the capital to investigate.

“That’s easy. She wants to show the other nobles what the SAR is capable of when it comes to intel. There are still plenty of idiots in the kingdom who think beastfolk are all brawn and no brains, and that the SAR is full of those kinds. We could’ve just turned a blind eye, but we’re a proud folk. Plus, there’s a bit of history between our people and Duke Sanga’s house. We’re hoping that if we can’t be the first to send our congratulations, we can at least be the second, so we can maybe smooth things over a little.”

So basically, they wanted to kill two birds with one stone. They could slap the fools who had underestimated them while improving their relations with Duke Sanga.

“Besides, Tenma. The SAR has military power, a huge amount of land, and a stable economy. What do you think that means?” he added.

“Lani, you do know that’s a dangerous thing to say.”

The SAR had plenty of powerful beastfolk, including Blanca and the other leaders. If you added in the economic boom they were experiencing from the dungeon I had discovered, along with all that fertile land which could produce all the food they’d ever need... Well, in theory, the SAR could become its own kingdom.

“Now, we’re not going to do anything like that,” Lani said. “It’s all just hypothetical. But let’s say things get really bad between the SAR and the kingdom’s nobles. Bad beyond repair. And let’s say we also manage to sign a nonaggression pact with the Empire. Then what? Anyway, only a handful of nobles have a problem with us right now, and we don’t have any solid contacts in the Empire, much less any we’d trust. But it’s important to show the kingdom that if we had to, we could survive on our own. We’re not trying to overplay it or anything; we just want to plant the idea. That alone will change how we’re treated and elevate our standing, and could be a way to avoid unnecessary conflict in the future.”

It sounded like the SAR had its own share of frustrations with the kingdom.

“Jeanne, Aura, Amur?” I called out. “Don’t breathe a word of this to anyone, no matter what. Seriously. If this gets out, we might not be able to stay in the capital.”

We’d survive outside the capital just fine, but we couldn’t let the Otori name get stuck in the middle of some noble power struggle.

Honestly, I had mixed feelings about Lani dragging me into this. But then again, this was one of those issues that could come back to bite us someday, even if we were to keep our heads down. Maybe he was trying to use me as a buffer against that. I was someone who had connections to the royal family, Duke Sanga, Marquis Sammons, and Margrave Haust. And I was probably one of the only people who could bridge the gap with the SAR.

Besides, I had a hand in the economic boom myself. So even if I wasn’t on board with Lani’s plan, I didn’t want things between the kingdom and the SAR to get worse. I would do what I had to do to keep that from happening.

Still, the next time I talked to Lady Hana, I needed to make it very clear that I didn’t want to be pulled into this kind of mess again.

Part Eight

“Here’s the payment for the yuzu pepper,” Lani said. Then, he immediately started pulling things out of his magic bag and laying them out on the table the moment we got back to the estate.

This time, he had brought sake, sake lees, miso, soy sauce, and mirin from Nanao. He’d figured this was the kind of stuff I’d like, and he was right on the mark. He had basically everything I would’ve requested on my own.

I asked why he had brought so much, and he told me that the yuzu pepper had turned out to be a huge hit in the SAR. It was selling very well. Not only that, but Lani had advertised it as a southern-style specialty made by me, and since I was so well-known in the region, that had boosted its sales.

“I also brought a bunch of items with strong flavors like pickled plums, fermented soybeans, and brined fish, plus various spices,” Lani added. “I also have some products from Sana’s shop. Oh, and since it was so popular last time, I brought you a small batch of yuzu.”

The lineup was a bit different from usual, but everything was rare and high quality, so I planned to buy the whole lot. If I had to be honest, I’d been hoping for more yuzu, though. But Lani told me the yuzu pepper craze in the SAR had created a shortage, so he’d only managed to bring ten kilograms of yuzu this time. Well, I still had some left, and if I ran out, I could always ask him to bring more next time. I was a bit low on yuzu jam, yuzu tea, and yuzu liquor, so I’d have to figure out how to portion all that out.

“Ten kilos isn’t really that much if we’re gonna use some for the bath too...” I said.

Lani was apologetic. “I’m sorry about that. I promise I’ll bring more in early spring. Please make do with this for now.”

It would’ve been nice if our own yuzu plants had fruit, but since we’d only planted them this past spring, they weren’t nearly ready yet. If all went well, they might start producing fruit the year after next.

“I’ll be taking my leave now,” Lani said.

Now that our transactions were done, he got ready to leave the estate. I told him he was welcome to stay longer, but he said he had to stock up on goods and gather a bit more information in the capital. He’d be heading back to the SAR early tomorrow morning. I had a feeling he was in a hurry to tell Lady Hana about my engagement. I’d also given him a carefully worded letter protesting about this whole situation to pass along to her. It would serve as a warning if this were an official decision from the SAR. And if not, well, then he’d just get chewed out by Lady Hana, and that would be justice in and of itself.

“Lani-tan didn’t even say congrats to you, Tenma. I can’t wait to tell Leni-tan that,” Amur said.

“Wasn’t that just because I didn’t exactly confirm anything?”

Honestly, I hadn’t even noticed that he hadn’t commented on it, so it didn’t bother me. But it was good ammunition for Amur.

“I’ve gotta write to her right away!” she said.

It would take weeks for her letter to reach the SAR, and Lani would probably have moved on to another location by then. Still, once he got back, he’d probably tease me about it, although who knows how many months it would be before then.

“That’s why you should just save your money and drop it,” I said. “Someone’s bound to come check if it’s true anyway, so you can say something then.”

Odds were it would be Leni instead of Lani, but since the former had just gone back to the SAR, there was a decent chance Hana herself would show up under the pretense of a New Year’s visit.

“I think the one most likely to show up is Mom!” Amur said.

“Let’s just assume that’s what’s gonna happen and prepare for it,” I suggested. “I mean, it’s hard to imagine a viscountess coming all the way from the SAR just for a New Year’s visit, but this is Lady Hana we’re talking about. She might just show up to ‘check in.’ Either way, someone’ll be coming, so we’d better be ready.”

Even if no one from the SAR showed up, the three noble idiots would definitely come around to hang out. I was sure that Primera would be with them too. And I had a strong suspicion that Duke Sanga and Marquis Sammons would drop by. Not to mention that some of the royal family—no, probably all of them—would also make appearances.

“Well, if that’s the case, we’re gonna need a place for the guards to wait.”

It seemed like this year’s New Year’s party would be even more crowded than usual, and with most of the guests being royalty or high-ranking nobles, I’d have to set up some kind of area for the guards. Otherwise, they’d be stuck waiting outside in the cold.

“It’ll be a rush job, but I can use magic to make it work. Hey, Gramps, you free?” I called over to Gramps, who was relaxing in the dining room. I then explained that I needed to build a guard shelter outside.

Gramps looked extremely annoyed, but eventually let out a reluctant sigh and agreed. “What kind of structure are you thinking?” he asked.

“First, let’s clear the area, put up a few pillars, and then surround it with earthen walls. I was thinking we could raise some beams into a triangle and nail boards onto them for the roof,” I said.

It was a bit sloppy, but as long as I made the walls sturdy and kept the roof light, the structure should hold up for a month or so.

“In that case, it might be best to wait until the last minute to put the roof on. Or maybe we should just replace it every month or two?” Gramps suggested.

I had built plenty of walls before and was confident they were at least as solid as anything a pro could throw together, or maybe even more so. But I’d never built a proper roof, so odds were that I’d end up with something that definitely looked like something an amateur DIYer had made on a random Sunday.

“Just call Mark and the others when it’s time for the roof. There are a few folks from Kukuri Village who’ve done light carpentry before. They’re not pros, but they’ll do a better job than us,” Gramps said.

Once again, when in doubt, ask Uncle Mark. I decided I’d leave the roof to him.

“All right, so Mark will take care of that. We’ll manage the pillars and walls. For the pillars, we should coat the wood with packed earth. If we make them rock solid, bugs won’t touch them, and they’ll be sturdier too,” Gramps said.

I worried that the moisture in the earth might rot the wood, but Gramps said we could use magic to dry the timber and it’d last till spring. Apparently, he planned to tear the whole thing down by then and have a real craftsman build a proper shed in its place. Honestly, if we were going to keep using it, that made the most sense.

“But what we’re planning should hold for now, even if it is a bit rough around the edges. We’ll start work tomorrow. Tenma, go gather some soil for me, will you? I’ll level the ground and handle the pillars while you’re at it.”

Gramps had just casually dumped the hardest job on me, but since it’d been my idea in the first place, I couldn’t really complain.

“Tenma, make sure to find soil with good clay content.”

The next day, Gramps waved me off as he enjoyed a nice, relaxing cup of tea after breakfast.

I figured it would be tough on my own, so I had recruited some help yesterday...but Rocket was the only one who had volunteered. Jeanne and Aura had both turned me down, saying they had too much laundry to do, and Amur had made up some excuse about taking Tama and the others for a walk. Amur had been totally full of it, but Jeanne and Aura had seemed to be telling the truth, so I’d just let it go.

Anyway, I dragged Shiromaru and Solomon along instead—they had been pretending to take naps. They’d tried to resist, but after Rocket had given them a lecture, they’d very reluctantly agreed. I decided I’d cook their favorite meal for dinner tonight, which meant another barbecue.

Now that dinner plans were sorted, I handed off the meat to Jeanne and Aura so they could prepare it. My followers and I then headed for a forest just outside the capital. I’d been there plenty of times, so I had a pretty good idea of where to dig, even with the snow.

“Rocket, have the golems start collecting soil that has a high clay content. And grab any dry grass you can find. You can toss it in the magic bag—once you’ve got the soil, dump it in there first, and then transfer it to the dimension bag. Shiromaru and Solomon, you’re on lookout duty. I’ll go gather soil in a different spot.”

I rode Thunderbolt to the forest while my followers rode in my dimension bag. But once we got there, we split up to start digging. Unfortunately, the ground was frozen solid. I had to scoop up the dirt and then touch it to see if it had the clay content I needed.

“Using golems was supposed to make this easy... My hands are freezing!” I complained.

Once I checked clumps of soil the golems had dug up, I tossed them into the magic bag first. Since living things couldn’t be stored in magic bags, any worms and other small critters would get spit right back out, so it served as a sort of filter. After I did that, I transferred the clean soil to the dimension bag. The only catch here was that eggs didn’t count as living things—I had to use fire to kill those off instead. If I didn’t, bugs could hatch later, and those could eat up the walls.

I wasn’t sure how much soil we’d actually need to build the earthen walls, so once we’d filled one dimension bag with about twenty to thirty tons of soil, I called it a day. We split the contents evenly into two bags, added some dry grass to each, and then lit them up to start sterilizing the soil. I vaguely remembered doing something similar in the past. I also thought that if we were going to need more in the future, it might be a good idea to come back and gather more when we had time...

“Rocket, collect another batch of dry grass, and keep it separate from the burning pile.”

He was already gathering some dry grass for the fire, but I asked him to get a fresh batch just for mixing into the soil. I’d heard that blending it in could help bind the mud together and make the walls sturdier. Of course, I’d double-check with Gramps before actually mixing it in. If I was wrong, I could just repurpose it for bedding for Jubei and the others.

“Think it’s about done?”

Once we had collected enough grass, I threw it into the dimension bag and continued the sterilization process. I might’ve not killed every last critter inside, but with the sun starting to set in about another hour or so, it was time to wrap things up anyway.

“We got our souvenirs, and it’s freezing out here. There’s no point in sticking around.”

While Rocket and I were out collecting dry grass, Shiromaru and Solomon had decided to ditch guard duty and had gone hunting instead. They came back with four boars, two horned rabbits, and a mound of ground meat that used to be three other horned rabbits.

I handed off the meat to Rocket since he told me he’d process it. The rest was still bleeding out in our butchering dimension bag.

“All right! It’s really cold, so let’s head back and hit the bath!”

Rocket and Solomon perked up at that, but Shiromaru looked away and pretended he didn’t hear me. Even with it being so frigid, it seemed like he didn’t feel like bathing.

“You’re filthy, Shiromaru. If you’re dead set on not taking a bath, I guess you’ll just have to sleep outside with Jubei and the others tonight.”

Both Shiromaru and Solomon were caked with mud from running around the snowy forest and fields. There was no way I was letting either of them inside the house like that. So if he refused to get clean, he’d have to live outside until he changed his mind, no matter how long that might take.

Anyway, once I told Shiromaru that, he kept glancing over desperately at Rocket, trying to say something. I guessed it was something like Can you clean me up instead so I don’t have to take a bath? But Rocket ignored him and hopped up onto my shoulder instead. Shiromaru realized his backup plan had fallen through and reluctantly gave in, agreeing to a bath after all.

So with that little drama out of the way, we headed back to the estate.

“Hm, looks like we got a bit carried away...” Gramps muttered.

“It was a good workout!” Amur said cheerfully.

I came home to find a ridiculous number of support posts that covered nearly twice the area we’d originally planned. The posts looked like stone at first glance, but they were just wooden beams coated with hardened mud, like we’d discussed. Still, there were four times more of them than I had expected.

Then again, if the walls were going to be twice as big, we’d need that much more soil, so maybe the post count wasn’t that crazy after all. At any rate, there was no way the amount Rocket and I had collected was going to cut it.

“All right, Gramps and Amur. You two are on soil-collecting duty tomorrow.”

I’d done my part, so I figured the rest was somebody else’s problem.

“We won’t have enough with what we brought, and if we mix in more later, the consistency of the walls will be all over the place. So let’s just wait until tomorrow and blend your soil with ours before we start building, okay? Anyway, we’re gonna go take a bath now,” I said.

I started walking off before either of them could protest. They started saying something behind me, but I ignored it and headed straight for the baths.

However, I was halfway down the hall when I ran into Prince Lyle.

“There you are!” he said.

Apparently, one of his subordinates had spotted me this morning when I had left the capital, and that info had made its way back to the royal palace.

Queen Maria was here too. “You could’ve at least told us you were back. And you should’ve gone to see Primera yesterday, or today at the latest. She’s going to lose patience with you before the wedding even happens.”

Primera sat beside Queen Maria, looking visibly tense. Tida and Luna weren’t around, but they had exams coming up, so they were studying back at the palace. Well, more like Luna was being watched like a hawk while she tried to study. Tida was willingly hitting the books—he wanted to be at the top of his class.

“I’m sorry, Primera. I didn’t mean to worry you.” I apologized and they both forgave me, so I followed that up with my report. “Sorry for getting back to you on it so late, but I’ve successfully conquered the Sagan dungeon.”

“Congratulations. That makes two dungeons you’ve cleared on your own now. That’s a historic accomplishment,” Queen Maria said to me.

Clearing just one dungeon was considered a huge achievement, but I’d finished two. One of them had been a previously undiscovered dungeon that had ended up boosting the SAR’s economy. The other was the largest known dungeon in the kingdom, and while I hadn’t been the first to clear it, it had practically been a solo run.

No one in the history of the kingdom had ever cleared two dungeons solo, so this wasn’t just flattery. In fact, knowing the queen, she was probably already composing how to word it officially in her mind.

As I pictured her excitedly scribbling my name onto some history book, she gave me a meaningful look. “Tenma, you’re filthy,” she said. “You should really go get cleaned up.”

She had a point, but I had been planning to take a bath before she called me over. I took that opportunity to excuse myself.

Prince Lyle fell in step beside me as I headed down the hall. He told me this was a good chance for some male bonding, but honestly, all I could think of was that I was grateful to have another set of hands to try to bathe Shiromaru.

Not long after, Gramps showed up, adding even more manpower to the mix. Lyle had never washed Shiromaru before, so honestly, he wasn’t that helpful. Rocket ended up being the MVP once again.

“Oh, you’re here. Thanks for coming, Tenma. We’re honored to see you again, Master Merlin.”

“The pleasure’s mine. Thanks for having us, future Duke Sanga,” I said with a smirk.

“You might be able to drop the ‘future’ part soon. Hosting the first party of the New Year for the ducal house isn’t exactly small potatoes,” Gramps said.

We’d been invited to the Sanga family’s New Year’s party, and Albert was the one hosting it this year. That could mean only one thing—Duke Sanga was getting ready to hand over the reins.

Gramps had said he’d thought it’d still be a few years yet, but the duke was clearly setting the stage for it.

Up until now, I’d never bothered attending any of their New Year’s parties, but this year was different because I was one of the guests of honor. I really didn’t have a choice but to show up.

“Not yet,” Albert said. “Father needs to hold the reins for at least another decade. There are still people who don’t take me seriously, to say the least.”

I decided to poke at something that had been bugging me a bit, just for fun. “You can say that again. And some of them don’t even try to hide it. They change their tone depending on who’s around. I guess that’s just how it goes.”

“Don’t be so harsh, brother,” Albert teased back.

“I’m not your brother, not yet. Also, maybe don’t blurt out secrets like that in the hallway? Your dad might not be too happy about it,” I warned, teasing him a little harder.

Albert had nearly let his true thoughts slip, but he had caught himself in time. If he were to inherit the title now without any real accomplishments under his belt, people would underestimate him, or worse, try to control him. And to be honest, once he took the title, he wouldn’t be able to enjoy the same carefree lifestyle he had now.

“Master Tenma, Master Merlin, if you’ll wait just a moment, I’ll have someone show you to the waiting room for guests,” he said. “You’ll be introduced after Cain and Leon. After that, my father will formally announce your engagement to my sister.”

Albert had suddenly slapped “Master” onto my name and switched into his “I’m a proper noble” tone of voice. But the way he casually dropped the timing of the engagement announcement made me forget all about teasing him.

Duke Sanga would be making the announcement and not Albert, which made sense since he still had the authority. Or so I thought...

“Actually, he’ll be announcing your engagement to my sister after announcing my marriage to Eliza. So I may not be available to help guide you through things. In that case, Father will step in as the host again, which is the usual setup. I hope that’s all right.”

It turned out the ducal house had an announcement lined up that was even more important than mine and Primera’s. In other words, Albert wasn’t just hosting the party; he was the main attraction. He’d be too busy getting teased, ahem, celebrated, so he wouldn’t be able to handle all the responsibilities himself.

So, if things got hectic, Duke Sanga would step back in and resume control of the event.

“In that case, maybe the duke should just run the whole thing from the start? Also, can you drop the fancy tone already? You’re creeping me out,” I said with a frown.

It wasn’t like I was criticizing Duke Sanga—it just seemed like it’d be smoother that way.

“Don’t call me creepy. That’s rude,” Albert shot back. “For the record, this is how I always speak at noble functions. Anyway, the party is being held under the theme of ‘those who will lead the next generation,’ so besides the heads of the royalist faction and their heirs, we have representatives from other factions here too. Not to mention a few commoners like yourself, Tenma.”

“Let’s not pretend that Tenma still counts as a commoner. But this party’s kind of like a matchmaking showcase, eh?” Gramps asked.

Honestly, he wasn’t wrong. And neither one of us counted as commoners anymore. So if that was the angle, then announcing my engagement to Primera early in the party made a lot of sense.

“So it’s to head off anyone trying to hit on me or Primera before they know we’re engaged?” I asked.

“Yep. You and Primera both rank pretty high on the list of eligible singles. But once Father makes a public formal announcement, no one in their right mind would try to swoop in and steal someone’s betrothed. At least, not unless they’ve got some kind of death wish.”

That meant there were people dumb enough to try.

“Albert, stop chatting and show Tenma and Master Merlin to the waiting room already. My other guests will be arriving soon.”

“My apologies. Father, would you do the honors?”

Duke Sanga stepped in and took over without a hitch before those words had even left Albert’s mouth. He’d come to the entrance specifically to greet me and Gramps. Now, he was personally leading us to the guest room.

“This will be your waiting room,” the duke said. “Primera and Albert will stop by later for a quick meeting, but please keep a low profile in the meantime.”

This room was tucked into a more private wing of the estate near the family’s living quarters, so there wasn’t much chance of other guests wandering by.

“Yooooo! Tenma! Master Merlin! Good to see ya both!”

“Hi, Tenma. And afternoon, Master Merlin. Uh, Leon? Don’t you think that greeting was a little weird?”

Unfortunately, we weren’t protected from everyone—Cain and Leon strolled in a few minutes after the duke had left, acting like they owned the place. It wasn’t too surprising since they were close to both our families, so they didn’t count as “regular” guests.

“The big day’s finally here! Welcome to the brotherhood of taken men, Tenma! The club members are me, Albert, and now you! It’s just the three of us for now, but maybe someday Leon will...” Cain turned to smirk at Leon mid-sentence before looking back at me and congratulating me again. It was definitely on purpose.

Leon crossed his arms and pouted. “Marriage is the graveyard of life! You two will regret this!”

“Oh? So, Leon, you consider my sisters and every other married woman to be in their graves, huh? That’s a bold take.”

“Don’t you think that’s a bit much, Albert?”

Albert and Primera were standing in the doorway. Albert had clearly twisted Leon’s words into something more extreme, and from the way Leon was panicking, he hadn’t thought too deeply about his comment. As for Primera, her smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. Her expression just seemed politely annoyed.

Leon looked back and forth between the two of them, sweating bullets. “S-Sorry!” He dropped to his hands and knees so fast I heard his head smack against the floor.

Albert gave him an icy glare. Primera looked away from him and walked over to greet me and Gramps.

But then...

“Excuse me... Hm? What’s going on here?”

“Pardon me... Er, what?”

Prince Caesar and Tida entered the room, which shifted the atmosphere immediately. Albert and Cain both knelt, while Primera bowed her head and dipped into a curtsy. Gramps and I just nodded slightly. We couldn’t exactly kneel since we didn’t consider ourselves their vassals, after all.

Leon was still on the floor, so he took a bit to realize who had just arrived. Albert and Cain had to yank him upright to his knees.

“Judging by Tenma and Master Merlin’s expressions, I’ll assume this was all in good fun. Try not to go overboard, yes?” Prince Caesar warned.

“Yes, Your Highness! Our apologies!”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness!”

The prince knew our dynamics well enough to be unfazed by the scene and let them off with a light scolding. Albert and Cain immediately apologized, with Leon chiming in a beat later.

“So, what are you two doing here?” I asked.

“Don’t forget we’re central figures in the royalist faction, Tenma. I am the crown prince, after all,” Prince Caesar said. “And Tida is one of the most promising young leaders in the kingdom. It’s only natural for us to attend a party like this.”

Well, I couldn’t argue with that, but something about it just didn’t sit right with me. The prince must’ve sensed my hesitation.

“The truth is, Mother wanted to attend, and Father wasn’t going to let her come alone. But it would cause too much of a commotion if they came together, so we came in their place. Honestly, Lyle could’ve come instead, but we figured that might even be worse,” he explained.

Well, that was true. If Prince Lyle had shown up, every single woman here would’ve gone nuts. And nobles who hadn’t been invited would’ve started hassling the Sangas to host another similar event. At least Prince Caesar was married with an heir, so no one was going to look at him as a potential suitor.

And if any noble did get it into their head to offer their daughter to him as a concubine or something, they’d be picking a fight with the entire royal family—Prince Caesar’s marriage to Princess Isabella was just that strong.

As for Tida, he already had Amy, who the royal family unofficially considered his future fiancée. Although they weren’t officially engaged yet, she was the top candidate by far. If someone were to try to suggest their daughter for Tida’s concubine or second wife before their engagement, it would piss off House Otori, House Sanga, and House Sylphid. Queen Maria would probably be angry too—she was a huge Amy supporter.

Basically, I doubted anyone would do anything stupid at this party. After the wedding might be a different story, but that would be a whole other issue.

“Anyway, our presence here helps legitimize your engagement to Primera and Albert’s marriage to Elizabeth. Even if someone’s got mixed feelings about it, having the royal family involved gives it some extra weight. Just think of it like that; it’ll help you sleep easier,” Prince Caesar said.

It was clear there were more reasons behind him being here, but he didn’t seem inclined to expound on that. Or maybe it was more like he just didn’t want to. Either way, I didn’t want to be annoying and press him for more details, so I just left it there.

“I’ll just assume your usual deterrent tactics are in full effect, Prince Caesar. By the way, what about your and Tida’s partners?” I asked.

“Isabella and Amy are in separate waiting rooms right now, getting ready. I told them they have plenty of time, but they’re both quite anxious.”

Princess Isabella was using the royal family’s waiting room while Amy was in the same room as the Sylphids.

“If Princess Isabella is already changing, then things should kick off a little early. Primera, you should go get ready too,” Albert said.

“All right, then. I’ll excuse myself. See you later, Tenma,” she said.

For some reason, Tida’s whole demeanor softened once Primera left.

“Standing around here just feels so awkward. Why don’t we all sit down since we’ve got time?” Prince Caesar suggested, moving to the head of the table.

The rest of us followed him one after another. The table was built for about eight, so with seven of us, there was plenty of room. Still, Albert and the others looked very tense with the prince around.

I decided to try breaking the ice. “Hey, Tida. You haven’t said a word since you walked in. What’s up?” I asked.

He gave me an embarrassed smile. “I’m just not used to this kind of thing, so I’m a bit nervous,” he said with a shrug.

The other men looked a bit confused and curious as they looked his way.

“I mean, sure, I’ve been to plenty of formal parties and engagement gatherings before, but I’ve never been at one where someone I’m close to is the one getting engaged. I guess it just feels a little weird,” Tida confessed.

Hearing that must’ve made Albert relax a bit. He grinned and said, “Come to think of it, Prince Tida fits the requirements for the Brotherhood too.”

“The what now?” Tida asked, puzzled.

Prince Caesar raised an eyebrow, looking intrigued.

“Just before the two of you arrived, we realized that since Tenma’s engaged now, he’s officially joined the ranks of me and Cain. So that left Leon as the odd man out,” Albert said with a chuckle. Then, he recounted the whole story from earlier as the two princes listened with interest.

“Well, no, it’s no surprise that Isabella, Amy, and even my mother could be interpreted as reasons why ‘marriage is a graveyard’ when you phrased it like that!” Prince Caesar said with a laugh.

And just like that, thanks to the prince himself, three more names were added to the list of graveyard occupants.

Tida didn’t exactly look thrilled that his future fiancée had been added to the mix. He smiled politely, but I could tell that he was pinching the side of his thigh to keep himself from laughing. So yeah, he was messing with Leon on purpose.

Meanwhile, Leon was spiraling and in the midst of a panic attack. He looked like he was about to throw himself on the floor to apologize again.

Prince Caesar laughed. “Ha ha ha! Relax, it was just a joke!” he said.

“Mmph, bwa ha...” Tida covered his mouth, but he couldn’t stop laughing either.

“I get it, though. It’s easy to let things slip that you don’t mean when you’re frustrated,” Prince Caesar said. “But, Leon, if someone who didn’t know you and your sense of humor had overheard that—or even worse, if it were someone who doesn’t like you—they could use it as prime material to attack you. You need to learn how to handle your words and explain your intentions clearly. That’s one of the hurdles you’ll need to overcome before taking over as the head of your family.”

“I agree. If I didn’t know you better, I probably would’ve gotten offended,” Tida added.

Leon was overwhelmed by how quickly things had flipped on him. He sank to the floor with a dazed look on his face.

“Well, there was no harm done this time, but you’ll need to be more careful in the future. Especially at events like this, where you never know who might be listening,” Gramps said. He gave Albert a meaningful look and gestured for him to sit back down.

Gramps had stolen the glory of getting the last word in for this exchange, but Prince Caesar didn’t seem to mind. Now, if Lord Ernest had been here, then it might’ve turned into a commotion.

“Everyone, the beginning of the event is approaching.”

A butler from the Sanga household entered the room to inform us that it was nearly showtime. We technically still had some time left, but for Albert, this was when things really kicked off since he was handling everything in Duke Sanga’s place.

“My apologies, Prince Caesar and Tida. I’ll be stepping out now. I’ll see you both later,” he said.

“We’ll be returning to our room as well. Tenma, I’ll be looking forward to the announcement,” Prince Caesar said with a smile. He and Tida then followed Albert out.

“This part always takes so long,” Cain groaned.

“Right? Once you know when it’s going to start, time goes by so slowly...” Leon complained.

Neither of them made any move to return to their own waiting rooms. They were now completely relaxed, slouching like it was their own house. The contrast with how they’d been a minute ago, when Prince Caesar and Tida had been here, was hilarious.

Honestly, it was kind of impressive how comfortable they were despite being in someone else’s house. I wasn’t sure if it spoke to just how close they were with Albert, or if they just lacked awareness that much.

“Are they always like that? And would you mind bringing us some tea?” Gramps called out to a maid waiting outside.

The maid prepared some tea and snuck a glance at Cain and Leon. “They’re always completely at ease like this when they visit our estate,” she answered with a little smile.

“You two should get ready,” I told Cain and Leon—they were still lounging around like they had all the time in the world.

“I guess we should,” Cain said.

“Nah, we’ve still got plenty of time,” Leon said, waving him off.

The two of them were definitely experienced with parties like this, and while Cain’s laid-back vibe felt grounded in that experience, Leon’s came across more like reckless optimism. That contrast said a lot about their personalities.

But even so, Leon eventually let Cain convince him to return to his waiting room. I figured at least they wouldn’t be late.

Duke Sanga returned with Primera just before the official start time. “Tenma, are you ready?” he asked. “I’m counting on you to take care of my daughter tonight.”

We stood at the door leading to the garden, where the party was being held. He then took a step back and left us.

Leon, Cain, Tida, Amy, Prince Caesar, Princess Isabella, Primera, Gramps, and I waited by the entrance. The eight of us, excluding Primera, were the guests of honor.

“Oh! Master! And Primera too?” Amy’s eyes went wide when she saw us standing next to each other. She turned to Tida with a puzzled look, but he just smiled at her and didn’t say anything. I could see the gears in her head turning as the doors slowly opened.

The party was beginning.

“All right, Tenma. We’re up,” Cain said.

“See ya in there,” Leon said.

Their names were called first, and they strode out into the garden.

“Announcing Master Tenma Otori, Lady Primera von Sanga, and Master Merlin Otori!”

And just like that, it was our turn.

The moment they called my name alongside Primera’s, the room began to buzz. It was an unusual way to enter, and there were whispers all around. And they grew into a fervor when Prince Caesar and the others were announced right after us. Some nobles even sent their attendants scrambling off somewhere.

Interestingly, not many people seemed to notice Amy standing next to Tida, maybe because of the sheer impact of our group as a whole. Still, I did hear a few ladies whispering about it.

Duke Sanga stepped forward. “Ladies and gentlemen, may I have your attention? We have a brief announcement on behalf of the host’s family.” His voice was carrying through the garden. “I am pleased to officially announce the marriage of my son, Albert von Sanga, to Lady Elizabeth von Sylphid. The date has yet to be set, but we’re planning on having the wedding sometime this coming spring.”

The reaction from the crowd was immediate. People nodded and whispered, “I knew it!” to one another. The attendees had obviously been expecting that one.

But then came the real bombshell.

“Next, I would like to share that Tenma Otori and my daughter, Primera von Sanga, are officially engaged.”

The moment those words left his mouth, the room exploded. No one had seen that coming.

“Wh-Whaaaaaat?!”

And with that, Duke Sanga had announced my and Primera’s engagement.

The loudest reaction of all had come from Amy. She’d let out an involuntary yelp of surprise...and once she’d realized she’d basically shouted in the middle of a formal announcement, she turned bright red and looked down. She was mortified.

Prince Caesar was standing next to her, though, so no one dared to scold her. In fact, Primera and Eliza both looked at her with warm, amused smiles. It was clear they found it endearing. No one from the Sanga family seemed bothered either.

“And that concludes the announcements from our family. Please enjoy the Sanga family’s New Year’s celebration!”

The party had officially begun, but it was a bit awkward.

“Everyone’s just staring at us from a distance. Not a single person has come over here...” I muttered.

“That doesn’t surprise me. Even when it comes to offering your congratulations, there’s a certain protocol that needs to be followed,” Primera pointed out.

“She’s exactly right. Nobody here’s going to jump ahead of me to talk to you, not even if they’re surprised or flustered. Well, not unless it’s someone who is really close to the two of you. But even then, there aren’t that many people like that at this party.”

Primera and I had been chatting while we looked around the room, and Prince Caesar and Princess Isabella approached us. They’d probably gone to speak with Albert and Eliza first.

Prince Caesar continued. “First of all, congratulations, you two. I was surprised when I heard about the sudden engagement, but when I think about it, it makes total sense!”

“It certainly does,” Princess Isabella added with a smile. “Primera was the first noblewoman Tenma ever met, and I hear that it was quite a memorable encounter. And Primera’s whole family has been close to him for years, and they’ve helped each other out numerous times.”

That was mostly accurate, except that the first noblewoman I had actually met was Kriss. I pointed that out to them.

“Oh, that doesn’t count,” the prince and princess said in unison.

Although Kriss still held the same authority as a noble when I had met her, she was technically a former nobleman’s daughter. And as far as everyone else was concerned, saying that Primera was the first made the whole thing sound more romantic. That story would go over better with the public, especially women, and would help sway more people to our side.

“Still, I can’t believe not even Amy knew! I assumed Tida had told her,” Primera said, shaking her head.

“Well, if that’s the case, couldn’t you have just told her yourself, Tenma? However, the fact that you didn’t probably means you were thinking about Amy’s safety and the duke’s reputation. Am I right?” the prince asked.

That was true. But to be honest, I had assumed Tida had already told her and had sworn her to secrecy. I told the prince as much.

“He might’ve let it slip had it been a normal secret, but if there was even the slightest chance that telling Amy could put her in danger, there was no way Tida would’ve breathed a word. He’s a thoughtful boy,” Prince Caesar remarked.

If Amy had learned about the engagement and had let something slip accidentally, the nobles who already disliked her might’ve pounced on it. They could’ve said something like “If she can’t even keep a family secret, she’s unfit to be queen!” Her position was just that precarious right now.

So, if we kept the secret completely under wraps until the official announcement, there would be nothing to leak. Once it was out, people would just see her as a poor girl who hadn’t been told anything. In the worst-case scenario, if anyone tried to spin it like she couldn’t be trusted with a secret like that, I would just say we had decided to only share it with immediate family members. With the Sanga family backing it up, not even the royal family could tell the future candidate for queen.

“By the way, do you know if Luna’s heard about the engagement?” I asked.

Both of them averted their eyes.

“Well, I have a feeling she’ll try to barge into your house the moment she finds out who you’re engaged to, so can you do what you can to appease her? Give her some sweets or something, and she’ll calm down. You can blame my father if you want,” Prince Caesar said.

“Luna’s easy to handle in that she’s easily bribed—er, that she’s obedient when it comes down to it. She’ll be fine,” Princess Isabella said. “The real problem here is Kriss, though. She’s definitely going to raise a fuss. I mean, she was always hanging around you, so how did she miss this?”

Honestly, I wanted to know the same thing. She was the only one who had slept through the whole scene when the whole engagement thing had blown up. Even after that, she had either not been at my house when the topic had come up, or she’d been there but fallen asleep again.

“If she doesn’t settle down, you can just say my father—no, my mother ordered it. Technically speaking, Kriss isn’t part of the Otori or Sanga families, so she doesn’t have any right to complain. But she does call herself Tenma’s big sister, so I guess she gets a little emotional about stuff like this, especially with her lack of romantic prospects,” the prince said.

In the end, I’d come to the same conclusion as Caesar had. I opted to keep my mouth shut. Even if I were to explain the situation logically, I doubted that Kriss would just accept it—she’d been kept in the dark for nearly four months.

Since Caesar had said I could push the responsibility onto Queen Maria, I only had one option.

“Could you pass a message along to Queen Maria for me?” I asked. “Please tell her she’s always welcome to visit. And when she does, she should bring Kriss as her bodyguard. Aina should come along too.”

The best move was just to let the queen deal with it. While I could ask Aina, I didn’t think even she could permanently keep Kriss under control.

“Sure, I’ll pass that along,” the prince said. “Well, please excuse us. Isabella and I have to go mingle now.”

I felt a little guilty asking the prince to pass along messages like that, but it would be worth it if it helped settle things with Kriss. And as for Luna, like Princess Isabella had said, she was easily bribed—er, very cooperative when it came down to it. She’d accept things as long as they were explained properly to her.

“Congratulations on your engagement, Tenma and Primera.”

“Yeah, congratulations.”

Tida and Amy came over just as the prince and princess left. They offered their well-wishes to us, but Amy still looked peeved. Tida seemed a bit restless too.

“Well, Master? Why didn’t you tell me about the engagement?”

Just as I’d thought, Amy was feeling left out.

I apologized to her. “It wasn’t something easy to talk about, Amy. I get that it sucks to be left out, and I’m sorry. But right now, you’re legally part of the Sylphid family. They’ve got a friendly relationship with both the Otori and Sanga families, and their heir is engaged to Duke Sanga’s oldest daughter. That’s how close they are.”

Amy seemed to understand that much. She sighed, then nodded.

“Still, they’re a different noble house, and no matter how respected the Otori family is, we’re still commoners,” I reminded her. “And don’t forget that House Sanga is one of the kingdom’s most powerful noble families. There are definitely people out there who don’t like the idea of us being connected. If somebody were to try to sabotage our engagement, guess who they’d target first? You, Amy, and that’s why we wanted to keep it quiet. Duke Sanga, the king, the queen, and I all agreed it was best, and Tida did too.”

I had slipped that last part in to show how Tida had her best interests at heart. It seemed to help as she looked slightly more convinced now. Tida let out a sigh of relief.

“Doesn’t that make Amy my sister-in-law now?” Primera asked, tipping her head to the side.

“Oh, that’s right! I’m looking forward to being your little sister, Primera!”

It was clear that Primera was trying to lighten the mood, and Amy eagerly went along with it. But just then, Eliza suddenly showed up.

“Excuse me, but I’m Amy’s first big sister!” she insisted.

It looked like she had ditched Albert just so she could butt in here. Elsewhere, Albert was dealing with three other women who kept chatting with him—he looked quite miserable about it.

As I watched him, he suddenly noticed me staring and glanced over at me.

“Who is Albert talking to, Primera?” I asked, figuring she might know them if they were Albert’s acquaintances.

But instead, Eliza answered, looking shocked. “Are you serious, Tenma? Those three ladies are Duke Sanga’s wives! They are Primera’s mothers.”

Yeah, there was no coming back from that one. I hadn’t even known what my future mothers-in-law looked like.

“Primera, can I go introduce myself to your mothers?”

“Sure, but just be prepared. They might tease you a bit. And if it gets to be too much, just turn the attention to Albert. That usually solves everything.”

Albert might’ve been a pain, but he definitely came in clutch sometimes. I’d make sure to pat him on the back later for it.

“Still, isn’t it kinda weird to meet your fiancée’s mothers the day of your engagement announcement? Normally, you’d visit them way earlier, right after the decision was made...or even before that,” Eliza muttered passive-aggressively as we walked towards them.

I didn’t feel like arguing, so I ignored her. Eliza followed us anyway, grumbling the whole way there. I wondered if she had some kind of business with the ladies herself.

Primera called out to the women. “Excuse me, Mothers. May we have a moment?”

All three of them turned towards us, but I wondered which one was her actual mom.

Before I could ask, Eliza leaned close to me. “The Sanga family doesn’t make distinctions between primary and secondary wives. All three are called ‘Mother’ by the children,” she whispered.

“Mother, this is my fiancé, Tenma Otori,” Primera said.

I introduced myself. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Tenma Otori. I’m so sorry for not coming to introduce myself sooner. I should’ve visited right after the engagement was decided. Please forgive me for the delay.”

I bowed and offered them a formal apology. It wasn’t my strong suit, honestly.

After a pause, one of them replied. “Oh, there’s no need for that. Our husband already explained. Please, raise your head.” She didn’t sound upset about it.

“Our husband said, ‘Tenma’s probably busy and just forgot to come greet you, so why don’t you go see him?’ But we were too busy to make it to the capital ourselves, so it’s mutual, really.”

Duke Sanga had sold me out, and now they knew why I hadn’t shown up. Talk about embarrassing.

“Please allow me to introduce myself as well. I’m Olivia, Primera’s birth mother, and parent number one.”

“I’m Camila, parent number two.”

“Oh dear, I suppose that makes me parent number three. I’m Grace.”

“It’s a pleasure,” I said, and then turned to Primera. “Er, Primera? What’s with this one-two-three thing?” I whispered.

She gave me an awkward smile and dodged the question, so I called out to the person who was trying to quietly make a getaway. “Hey, Albert! I see you trying to sneak off. What’s with the whole one-two-three thing?”

I spotted him trying to slip away, but I wasn’t about to let him do that. Sure, I could’ve just asked the three mothers about it directly instead of shouting loud enough for them to hear, but I just couldn’t let Albert get off easy.

“H-Hey! Tenma! I mean, er, Tenma, could you come here for a second? Argh, I can’t move him!”

Albert tried to drag me off to the side, but I planted my feet and refused to budge. Not only did I have no reason to follow him, but I figured it was in my best interest to stay put, what with all the women watching us.

“Phew! Fine, I’ll explain. They mean it literally, as in the three of them raised Primera together. That’s just how it is in the Sanga family. My older sisters and I were raised the same way,” he explained.

In noble families, the primary wife and the secondary wives were supposed to work together to support the household, but in reality, there would be more of a rivalry going on. It could get even messier than that too, especially if the second wife was the one who gave birth to the oldest son. You’d hear all sorts of stories about succession battles that both sides of the family would get dragged into. And even if things didn’t get that far, it wasn’t unusual for the situation to get ugly anyway.

“Camila was the first to have a child, then Grace. And then Olivia gave birth to me and Primera,” Albert said.

“I can take it from here,” Olivia said. “First of all, the three of us were childhood friends, so we knew each other long before we met our husband. It felt more like he inserted himself into our trio. So when our families decided I’d become his official fiancée, I asked Camila and Grace if they wanted to become his secondary wives.”

I’d heard of noblewomen having a say in who their husband’s other wives would be, but hearing of someone asking before marriage seemed quite unusual.

“Because of that, it didn’t feel painful or difficult when Camila had Rachael and Grace had Angela,” Olivia explained.

“I feel the same way.” Grace nodded.

“That’s right. And since we were able to take turns caring for the children, raising them never felt like a burden.”

Apparently, they had also hired several wet nurses, which had helped lighten the load even more.

“After a little delay, I had Albert. He was the long-awaited boy of House Sanga, so naturally, the three of us got a little overzealous with his education. Our husband scolded us quite a bit.”

“That’s right. Having a boy was quite a shock after having so many girls. But we were relieved it was Olivia who had him, because it avoided a lot of awkwardness,” Camila said.

“Precisely. If Camila or I had given birth to a son first, it might’ve caused a stir! So it really all worked out for the best.”

It looked like they’d pinned a lot of their hopes onto Albert—so much so that they had tried to start him on an elite education program as soon as he was born. Duke Sanga had needed to put a stop to it. After that incident, he had been the main one in charge of Albert’s education.

When Primera had been born three years later, they’d decided to avoid going overboard by letting the tutors handle her education. That way, they had been able to focus on just doting on her.

As far as I could tell, they loved Albert, but since they hadn’t been able to spend as much quality time with him, they had poured all that affection onto Primera instead. And since she was the youngest, she was still the baby of the family, so she continued to be spoiled.

“So that’s how Primera ended up so naive and sheltered...” I muttered.

“Perhaps,” Olivia said with a smile. “But don’t you think that’s part of her charm?”

It was hard to argue with that, so I nodded silently.

That seemed to encourage the three of them, because then they began regaling me with stories of Primera’s childhood.

“Mothers,” Primera said, blushing deeply, “shouldn’t you go say hello to Prince Caesar and Princess Isabella?”

The three women quickly backed off. Albert sensed the change in mood and also tried to make an escape, but another man approached us.

“Congratulations to you both, Lady Primera and Lord Albert.”

“Thank you, Viscount Abyss.”

“Thanks, Viscount Abyss. Although, did you say Primera’s name first on purpose?” Albert asked.

“No, not at all! Tenma, congratulations on your engagement as well.”

“Thank you,” I said. “Viscount Abyss, this may not be the best place to ask, but how is Falman doing since the wedding in Gunjo City?”

I already knew he had been doing community service under the viscount’s supervision, but that was about it. I couldn’t help but be curious.

“He’s doing well and working hard every day. At this rate, he may be given a reduced sentence,” the viscount replied. “Oh, and just recently, his girlfriend showed up and moved in with him. They seem to be enjoying life together.”

Wait, he’s allowed to live with someone else while being under supervision?

Apparently, when Falman had to move to the viscount’s city, he’d explained everything to his girlfriend and broken up with her. She apparently hadn’t been able to accept that because one day she had just shown up out of nowhere with a bag in hand and had refused to leave.

“She sounds like a passionate woman,” Primera said.

Viscount Abyss nodded. He added that although some people had been hesitant about them living together at first, they’d been won over once they had seen Falman’s dedication to his community service.

“Hey, Albert? I think the viscount’s completely forgotten that I’m standing here,” I said.

“He forgot me from the start, so you’re still in a better position than I am.”

Seriously. The viscount was chatting away with Primera like I wasn’t even there.

“I can’t just walk away, though... Anyway, Albert, do you want anything in particular for your wedding gift?” I asked.

I figured I couldn’t leave Primera behind, but just standing here silently was so awkward that I started talking to Albert. Doing that also stopped him from slipping away to find Eliza, who was off somewhere with Amy and Tida.

“I’d love a golem, but Queen Maria already warned me not to ask one for one,” he said sadly.

Honestly, I wouldn’t mind giving him a golem, but maybe it’d be safer to avoid anything controversial.

He thought about it for a while longer. “How about a carriage, then? It doesn’t have to be as fancy as yours, but I’d like something smaller and more compact. Enough space for two or three people to lie down inside, and a place to change clothes too. I know a bathroom’s too much to ask, though.”

He wanted a carriage because, since he’d be traveling more frequently between the capital and the Sanga duchy, he wanted a more comfortable mode of travel. And since he didn’t have a golem horse like Thunderbolt to pull it, he wanted his to be a bit smaller than mine to make things easier on the horses.

“That doesn’t sound too bad. At least it’s easier than the golem I’m working on now.”

He was basically asking for a scaled-down version of my current carriage. I thought it would be doable.

“But if I give one to you, Cain and Leon are gonna want one too,” I added.

“I know. And I’d be annoyed if you gave one to them without a reason.”

That was fair. Plus, I could just say I was making it for Albert’s wedding present. It’d make sense that they wouldn’t be getting one as well.

“Well, I guess I wouldn’t complain if you gave one to Cain when he marries Ciara, as that’d be the same situation. But Leon doesn’t even have a girlfriend yet. Well, there is someone, but at the rate he’s going, it’ll be years before he gets married.”

Albert had a point. Cain was probably getting married soon, so it wouldn’t raise any eyebrows to give him one as well.

“All right, we’ll go with that. But does that mean I’m making two? One for you and one for Eliza?” I asked.

“No, just the one is fine for both of us. However, I won’t stop you if you insist on making two. But just remember you’ll have to do the same for everyone else when the time comes.”

“That’s a good point. I’ll just stick with the one, then.”

Under normal circumstances, asking someone what they wanted for their wedding would be weird, but since I didn’t have any experience with this sort of thing, I figured it couldn’t hurt. I could even frame it as asking my future brother-in-law for advice.

“Well, I know it’s kind of selfish for me to say this as the recipient, but I’m sure there will be others lining up asking for a custom carriage if word gets out that you gave Eliza and me one.”

If Albert showed up with a custom carriage, people would naturally assume I had made it. Once word got out, it wouldn’t be long before nobles started waving money at me, begging for one of their own.

“What if I made something similar for Tida later on? If he and Amy get engaged or married and we get the king’s blessing, wouldn’t that help frame the whole thing as something I do only for people I’m close to?” I said.

It didn’t have to be Tida specifically, but I thought the engagement or marriage of someone close to me would help stop other people from asking for something from me.

“That’s a good idea,” Albert said. “But Tida and Amy won’t be engaged anytime soon. Cain’s engagement might be a better excuse since it’ll come up before too long. You could say it’s an early wedding gift, or that it’s for Ciara’s safety or something. While that might be a bit of a stretch, it’ll help reinforce the idea that you only give those gifts to people you’re close to.”

I decided I’d bring this up to Cain later.

“Tenma, I hope you won’t think this is rude to ask right after your engagement, but do you have any intentions of taking a second wife in the future?” Viscount Abyss asked me. He’d waited for my conversation with Albert to wrap up.

“That’s kind of rude, Viscount,” Albert said, looking angry.

But what caught my attention more was Primera’s reaction. She was totally silent.

The viscount pressed the issue. “Lord Albert, as uncomfortable as this may be, it’s better to settle these things early. Even if Lady Primera does officially leave her title behind, Tenma will be deeply involved in the world of nobles. And that means that other nobles, both men and women, will try to force these conversations onto him. So it’s better to settle this now than let it hang in the air.”

The whole room was staring at us now.

“Viscount Abyss, I...” I began.

“I’d actually like to respond to that, Viscount.”

Just when I was about to say I wasn’t interested in having a second wife, Primera stepped forward and interrupted me.

“The viscount is right,” she began. “From here on out, plenty of nobles will try to get close to Tenma in hopes of having their daughter become his second wife. The Otori family will likely get drawn deeper into noble society as well. But Tenma and I are both a little shy. I think it’d be miserable for both of us if a stranger were to marry into our family. Actually, I don’t think so—I know so. So at the very least, any secondary wives would have to be someone with whom both of us are already completely comfortable. When it comes to political connections, the Otori family already has ties to Houses Sanga and Sylphid. And Tenma himself has strong connections to the royal family and several high-ranking nobles. Introducing someone from an average noble family would only create unnecessary tension.”

She clearly and confidently explained the risks, so I started to relax. But then...

“Still, it’s true that bringing in a secondary wife could strengthen the Otori family politically. That’s why I’ve already been considering a few candidates. So, if Tenma agrees with me, everything is already in place for that to happen,” she said.

Wait, what?

How was I just now finding out that she’d already planned this out? I had a feeling I knew who she was referring to, but still...

“I see. And who are these two potential candidates?” the viscount asked.

Now that the viscount had phrased it that way, I realized this whole thing had been scripted from the start. Primera had never mentioned a number, but he knew there were two people. His “rude” question had been planned in advance. The viscount wasn’t just poking his nose into our business. He was one of the instigators.

It was hard to believe that Primera and Viscount Abyss would’ve come up with something like this on their own. At the very least, everyone in House Sanga... Wait. Albert and the mothers were clearly shocked, so if anyone was in on it, it was Duke Sanga himself.

“Well, well. Sounds like something interesting is going on here!”

At that point, Prince Caesar showed up. I doubted that he was involved, but it was clear from the look on his face that he had figured out what was going on here.

“Prince Caesar!”

“Sorry to interrupt, but this conversation was just too juicy to ignore. Please, don’t mind me. Go on.”

Primera had been about to bow to him, but Prince Caesar held up a hand and gestured for her to stay calm and keep talking. Then, he walked over to me.

“Are you in on this too, Tenma?” he asked me so quietly that no one else could hear.

“No. This is the first I’ve heard of it,” I admitted.

“Hm.” With that, he turned his attention back to Primera and the viscount, enjoying the spectacle.

I’d always thought Prince Caesar wasn’t much like the king, but the way that he enjoyed drama made me think they were more alike than I had thought.

Primera wavered for a moment, caught off guard by the prince’s appearance. After taking a deep breath to compose herself, she said, “I haven’t received official approval yet, so I can’t give names. But one is the daughter of a powerful noble family from the SAR, and the other is the daughter of a former noble house that held a lot of authority over the neutral faction before its fall.”

Sheesh, she didn’t even have to say the names. It was obvious who she was talking about.

“I see. Well, whoever they are, it sounds like they’d definitely strengthen both the Otori family and the Sanga family politically. I’m satisfied,” Prince Caesar said with an approving nod.

“Exactly,” agreed the viscount. “The SAR is far from the capital, so the first candidate poses no threat. And the other is of lower rank than a ducal house, so there’s no danger to Primera’s position there either. I’m relieved to hear it.”

Since the two highest-ranking people here, meaning Prince Caesar and Viscount Abyss, had approved, the conversation came to a close.

“Prince Caesar, would you give permission for Primera and me to step out for a bit?” I asked.

“Sure. You’ve made the rounds, so a brief absence is fine.”

With that, I left the hall with Primera. The moment we started moving, Duke Sanga excused himself from the conversation he was engaged in and joined us.

Naturally, the three mothers and Albert started moving too, but...

“Hm, losing all my conversation partners at once feels a bit lonely. Albert, Eliza, would you mind staying with Isabella and me to chat some more?” Prince Caesar said. He had impeccable timing.

It honestly made sense. Having the entire host family vanish from the party would look bad. And on top of that, Prince Caesar had probably judged that Albert and Eliza weren’t needed for what was about to happen with the Otori family. Since Duke Sanga and the three mothers would be present, anything more would’ve been overkill.

“Looks like you’ve got your hands full, Tenma. Here, have a drink. This one’s pretty good!” Gramps had somehow joined us without me noticing, and he was already handing me a cup of booze.

“So when did you start thinking about this whole secondary wife thing?” I asked Primera. She’d been tense ever since we stepped into the waiting room.

“I’m sorry... Right after the engagement was decided.”

So it’d been on her mind for four months. She probably felt bad for keeping it from me.

“Did you know about this?” I asked Duke Sanga.

“Honestly, this is the first I’ve heard about it. My wives and I learned about it at the same time you did. I’m so sorry!” The duke bowed his head on behalf of Primera, and his wives followed suit.

“It’s fine. I’m not going to complain. Sure, I was surprised, but I always figured this kind of thing would come up eventually. It was probably Amur’s idea, wasn’t it?” I asked. I thought only Amur could come up with a scheme like this.

“No, Tenma. It was my decision. Amur did suggest it initially, but I accepted it. So I take responsibility,” Primera said steadily. All the nervous energy she’d been carrying before was gone.

“She already has the composure of a first wife...” Duke Sanga said as he gazed at Primera proudly.

“Well then, Tenma! Looks like it’s your turn to give a clear answer,” Gramps said with a grin. I had a feeling he’d already had too much to drink.

“I understand you’re the one who made the decision, Primera. But are you really okay with this?” I asked. “We’re not even married yet, and I’ve already got other women lined up to be my wives!”

Whether or not I would actually marry Amur and Jeanne was beside the point. I just couldn’t shake the feeling that Primera was forcing herself to go along with this.

“Tenma, you do realize both of them are in love with you, right? And I barged in and stole you away from them. So I think it’s only fair that I take their feelings into account,” she said.

To me, it sounded like she was trying to do this out of guilt.

“And just so there’s no misunderstanding here, when I say I’m taking their feelings into account, I mean I’m allowing the possibility of them marrying you. I’m not going to help them in any way, but I won’t interfere either. Whether they take the opportunity to try and become your wives is entirely up to them. And you’re the one who gets to decide in the end. The only thing I ask is that, if it comes to that, please marry them after we’ve had our wedding.”

Primera had said it like it was the most reasonable thing in the world, but it felt like I was being set up to take all the responsibility while she got to play the role of the generous first wife. That didn’t seem to bother anyone else, so of course I couldn’t say that out loud.

Gramps even gave me a look that said, You brought this onto yourself, so you better make a decision!

“Understood,” I said. “I’ll talk to Amur and Jeanne about it later. But why did Viscount Abyss go along with all this like it was some kind of master plan of yours? Saying that in front of all the guests could’ve seriously backfired.”

I figured they must’ve rehearsed it beforehand, but they didn’t have to rope in the viscount. Duke Sanga or Albert could’ve just brought up the idea of taking secondary wives naturally in conversation, and it could’ve gone from there. That would’ve come off way less suspicious.

When I pointed that out, Duke Sanga and Albert both nodded and looked at Primera.

“Well... I ran into the viscount a few days ago, and he found out about the engagement,” she said sheepishly. “I’ve been hanging out with Amur and Jeanne more lately, and one day, when the three—no wait, the four of us were out together, the viscount happened to see us. I think he picked up on something based on the way we were acting.”

“So you couldn’t fool him.”

“Right.”

She said they’d stepped aside and talked privately so Amur and Jeanne hadn’t overheard, but honestly, Amur had a nose for this sort of thing, so I wouldn’t be surprised if she’d already figured it out. And although Primera hadn’t said her name, it was obvious that Aura had been the fourth person in her party that day.

“Anyway, the viscount offered to help, so I took him up on his offer.”

And that was why he’d ended up coming into the conversation out of nowhere.

“But why would he go that far? I know he’s always been fond of you girls, but it feels like a bit much,” I said.

It was a good thing he was on Primera’s side. Who knows how he could’ve used that situation to manipulate things if he’d had any bad intentions?

“I wouldn’t worry about that,” Duke Sanga said. “Viscount Abyss is a true ally.”

Coming from the duke, that was a solid endorsement. Still, it didn’t explain why the viscount would go out of his way to support Primera’s plan and take that kind of risk.

Duke Sanga continued. “Well, to put it plainly, he dotes on the girls. The viscount doesn’t have a domain of his own. He’s a viscount under our ducal house, and he earns his salary by doing jobs for us. One of his duties is patrolling the duchy, which brings him to our estate fairly often. That’s why he’s very familiar with my daughters.”

That explained the connection but not the affection.

“You see, he always wanted a daughter,” the duke added. “But he and his wife ended up having four boys.”

He’d been thrilled when they’d had their first son, which meant he had an heir. And the second boy had been a happy occasion too, for now he had a spare. But after that, he had kept hoping his next child would be a girl, but that had never happened. In the end, he had four sons and no daughters. His wife hadn’t had any more babies after that, so he’d pinned his hopes on having granddaughters instead. So far, each and every grandchild of his had been a boy.

“All those bottled-up hopes and dreams kind of come out when he’s around my daughters. You’d think his wife would get annoyed about how he dotes on them, but she and their sons just accept it. He doesn’t neglect his sons or grandsons either, so the whole family gets along just fine.”

In other words, the guy had suffered a zero-and-fourteen losing streak in the daughter department, and this was how he coped. It made sense.

“So basically, he’s like that relative who spoils you rotten whether you like it or not, and he’ll help you even if you swear you don’t need it,” Primera said.

I’d been doted on in Kukuri Village by residents who’d never had kids of their own, so I could see where Primera was coming from. She probably couldn’t push back against Viscount Abyss, just like how I couldn’t say no to the villagers.

He hadn’t done anything bad so far, and honestly, it was nice to have someone like him in our corner. But based on my experiences, people like that had a tendency to become busybody uncles or aunts. At some point, you had to learn how to push back.

Of course, not that I had any room to talk. I had never managed to stand up to Queen Maria either. Gramps and the others would laugh even if I tried.

Still, it might be worth having a quiet chat with Primera in private later...

“So, this is all going to get a whole lot more chaotic, huh? Now what am I gonna do?” I joked, trying to lighten the mood.

I looked over at Gramps.

“Hm? That’s simple. Sit down with Amur and Jeanne and decide whether to take responsibility or leave things as they are. What else is there to do?” Gramps asked.

Yeah, he was definitely enjoying this.

“Honestly, that’s the clearest and most effective way forward, regardless of whether you marry them or not,” Duke Sanga said. “And since Primera’s set the bar so high for any future contenders, no other nobles are likely to start pushing women at you. Personally, I’m on board with you making Amur and Jeanne your secondary wives. The ducal house would then gain ties to both the SAR and the neutral faction. It’s a win-win for all of us.”

So the duke had no objections either. His wives also seemed like they agreed.

They were all supporting Primera’s suggestion and citing political advantages, but really, the main reason was obvious. If Duke Sanga were to reject Amur and Jeanne now, it would look like he was denying Camila and Grace. Those two were in similar positions. And if I could see it, he definitely could.

“Well, I’ll do my best. I’m sure I’ll cause more trouble down the line, but Father, Mothers, please continue to support me,” I said.

“Of course. We’re counting on you, son.”

I still hadn’t made up my mind about Amur and Jeanne, so I gave them a vague reply on that end. I did make a point to address Duke Sanga and his wives as Father and Mothers, but honestly, I’d probably still call him Duke Sanga out of habit. And I doubted I’d start calling Albert and Eliza my brother and sister anytime soon.

Speaking of that...

“Oops, I totally forgot about Albert and Eliza.”

They had tried to come with us earlier, but Prince Caesar had stopped them. And I had completely forgotten about them until now. Actually, now that I thought about it, almost the entire Sanga family was in this room, which couldn’t be great for the party.

Duke Sanga and the others seemed to realize the same thing and started panicking. We all rushed back to the party.

“Albert’s smile looks really tense.”

“Eliza looks like she’s having the best night ever.”

Albert was surrounded by guests and being bombarded by questions. Meanwhile, Eliza was laughing and chatting with Amy at the snack table as she sipped tea.

“Hm, some folks in this crowd are clearly annoyed with how the hosts are handling things, but no one’s saying anything since Prince Caesar is enjoying himself,” Gramps said.

“Looks like it. We’ll have to thank him later.”

With that, Duke Sanga led his wives as they went off to do some damage control.

Later on, Albert finally got free and came over to complain about me ditching him. But after the party ended, Duke Sanga and his mothers absolutely roasted him for all of his little mishaps throughout the night.

Part Nine

“There were a few bumps along the way, but overall I think it went well!” I said in the carriage on the way back from the party.

“I agree,” Gramps said. “I was surprised when Primera put on that little act with Viscount Abyss, although I guess that’s what you’d expect from a noble’s daughter. Speaking of which, we should probably fix up a room in the estate for her, don’t you think? Have you decided which one should be hers?”

We were wrapped up in talking about the party when, somehow, the topic of Primera’s room came up.

“I’ve sort of got something in mind...” I said.

“That’s pretty vague. Don’t tell me you’re planning on having her share your room?” Gramps asked.

Even though we were engaged, there was no way we could share the same room before marriage. She was planning on giving up her noble status once we wed, but she was still a noble until then, so there were rules we had to abide by.

“There are more than enough rooms, so there’s no reason to force us into the same one,” I began. “Besides, it wouldn’t send the right message if we slept in the same room before we get married. Anyway, I figure this is a good time to go through the unused rooms and see what’s actually in them. I can get it done faster if everybody helps instead of me doing it alone.”

The estate was divided into wings for men, women, and guests. This was something the king had suggested back when Gramps had first moved to the capital. He’d wanted rooms available for him and the people of Kukuri Village, just in case something were to happen to Gramps.

But once Gramps had reunited with me and had gotten his spark back, that precaution was no longer necessary. We had a ton of unused rooms in the wings now.

At the moment, it was just me, Gramps, Jeanne, Aura, and Amur living in the estate. There were three more rooms reserved for Tida and the others. That left us with about ten vacant rooms, including ones for guests.

“We’ve got too much space if you really think about it. Most rooms are just glorified closets now,” I said.

“True. Honestly, I don’t even know what half the rooms look like. Aside from the guest rooms, a lot of the empty ones have huge junk piles—ahem, I mean, are being used as temporary storage.”

As our maids, Jeanne, Aura, and Aina, did most of the cleaning, they probably knew what the rooms looked like. And Luna, who occasionally used one of the rooms as a hiding spot, probably had a good idea as well. But Gramps and I barely went anywhere beyond our own rooms, our shared storeroom—which also doubled as a workshop—and the library. This situation wasn’t exactly something the current and former heads of house should be proud of.

“Anyway, I was thinking we could start by organizing the rooms near ours and see if we can get a few of them back into a habitable condition.”

Eventually, we might even need to do a complete cleanup and rearrange who had what room, but that was a long-term goal. For now, I just wanted to tackle the area near what we were using.

As we were talking and getting closer to the estate...

“Gramps, there’s a royal carriage up ahead. It looks like it’s headed our way,” I said.

“Hm. If they’re coming over now, this almost certainly has something to do with the party.”

It’d be faster to link up with them now rather than wait, so I hopped off our carriage and went ahead to meet them.

“Honestly! No one in their right mind would try something like that, although I won’t go so far as to call it reckless...”

I managed to stop the royal carriage just fine, and I brought Gramps over once I confirmed they were headed to our place. Then, I immediately got chewed out by Queen Maria.

I had tried to flag down the carriage by running ahead of it and signaling them to stop, but I guess my signaling skills hadn’t been the best. According to them, the situation had looked suspicious enough that Dean had jumped out of the carriage with his sword drawn, ready to cut me down.

It turned out that Cruyff had been the one driving the carriage, and he’d called, “Someone suspicious up ahead!” before he had realized it was me giving the signal. Dean had already jumped out by that time, so it’d been too late to stop him.

Incidentally, I had just done the classic “Hey! Taxi!” move, but apparently, Cruyff had thought I was some weirdo doing strange hand gestures by the road.

Queen Maria told me that even if it was okay for me to stop the royal carriage, under normal circumstances, doing so would get somebody killed in a “slash first, ask questions later” kind of way.

I asked what brought them here, and it turned out my worst-case fears had come true a little earlier than expected. At least Queen Maria could handle the brunt of it.

“It looks like Jeanne and Aura aren’t around. Did they not notice, or are they just busy? Either way, we’re deducting points for that,” the queen said.

By the time we got to the gate and reached the front door, Jeanne and Aura were nowhere to be seen. That was unusual, because they normally came running at the sound of the gate opening.

Instead, Aina started to open the door. “Master Tenma, things have gotten kind of funny in there. Why don’t you open it instead?” she whispered through the gap.

I didn’t mind, since it was my house, but I wondered what she meant as I opened the door.

“Tenma! What’s going on?!”

“You’d better have a good explanation, Tenma!”

Kriss and Luna stood in the doorway, both glaring at me with their arms crossed. I quietly closed the door again.

“Did I just hear Kriss and Luna? What’s going on?” Gramps asked with a suspicious look, then pushed past me to open the door. “Hmm.”

He promptly shut it again.

Queen Maria stepped forward. “So they really are here, Aina?”

“That’s right, Your Majesty.”

The queen told her to go ahead and open the door, and the moment it opened...

“Tenma, what have you been... Eek!”

“Kriss, move! Tenma, I... A demon?!”

I guess they had thought I was just messing around. Luna hadn’t realized Gramps had been the one who’d opened the door the second time, so when the queen and Aina walked in on the third try, they both came charging in with accusations. They froze solid once they saw who they were talking to.

Since Kriss hadn’t said much, I thought she might come out of this all right. Luna was another story, however.

“Let’s just have a little chat inside, shall we?” Queen Maria said as she glared coldly at them.

“Y-Yes, Your Majesty...”

The girls shot me a look like I’d betrayed them before they quietly followed her into the dining room. As that was happening, Gramps and I headed upstairs to check out the vacant rooms.

We’d just gotten started when Jeanne, Aura, and Amur showed up.

“Tenma, the queen is giving Kriss and Luna a full-blown lecture downstairs. Should we do something?”

Apparently, the three of them had been hiding out in the dining room. They’d stayed quiet to avoid getting caught up in things once Kriss and Luna had stationed themselves in the foyer. And when the queen had stormed in, they had figured a lecture was coming and had run for it.

I told them I was planning on cleaning up a few spare rooms while I picked one for Primera, and I wanted some help. All three of them volunteered. I figured they didn’t want us poking around in rooms they’d secretly been using for storage.

“Maybe I should’ve invited Primera over too, since we’re all doing it together...”

I thought it might’ve been better just to call her over so she could pick out her own room.

“That would be impossible.”

Aina snuck up behind us and cut in before I could continue my thought. Gramps and I were used to her doing this by now, so we barely flinched, but the other three were quite startled. The girls jumped and quickly backed away. Amur’s ears perked up, and the fur on her tail stood up as she ducked behind Jeanne and Aura.

“She’s probably busy cleaning up after the party,” Aina added.

The servants would most likely handle most of that in a household as big as the duke’s, but I figured there might’ve been something else that came up.

“She’s also probably being scolded by Prince Caesar right now. And even if you were to ask her yourself, the duke probably would come up with an excuse to turn you down. So, I’ll assist you in her place. I’ve also been curious about how Jeanne and Aura have been using the empty rooms.”

I told Aina I’d given them permission to use the empty rooms however they’d wanted, but she said that she still wanted to check things for herself. I couldn’t really say no to that.

Amur realized Aina’s real targets were Jeanne and Aura, so she started making faces at them. However, I had a bad feeling that she wasn’t concerned with just those two, judging by the way Aina kept glancing over at Amur as well. Maybe she was planning on going after all three? Or all five of us, meaning including me and Gramps... Honestly, he and I mostly just tossed our stuff in our magic bags, and we owned this house, so hopefully we’d get a pass. Or so I told myself.

We began to clean up the rooms. Gramps and I got off easy—Aina told us that our quarters were “a little dusty, but not as messy as I expected.” Well, I called that a win.

The second-best evaluation was Jeanne.

“It’s fairly neat, but let’s just say that for a maid, you barely avoided a failing grade.” That sounded harsh, but at least she didn’t get a lecture. She got off light compared to the other two.

Then came the lowest scorers—Aura and Amur.

“Absolutely unacceptable. Now get started fixing this mess,” Aina said the moment she opened the door and looked inside. She ordered them to start cleaning under her supervision.

If they tried so much as to skip a step or cut a corner, they were ordered to start from scratch, even if the room looked spotless. It reminded me of that old folktale about the demons at Sai no Kawara who endlessly rebuilt their cairns. But in this case, the only one who could rein Aina in and rescue those two was the queen, and since we were just mortals and not jizo, we couldn’t intervene and help them. All we could do was keep our heads down and pray that Aina’s wrath didn’t turn our way next.

We were basically deadweight and not planning to do anything otherwise. We stayed a safe distance away so we wouldn’t provoke Aina and casually discussed what to do with the rest of the empty rooms.

Suddenly, Luna stormed upstairs. I wasn’t sure if she’d been released or simply escaped.

“Tenma! Why didn’t you tell me you got engaged?!” she yelled.

“Did Queen Maria give you permission to come up here?” I asked.

If she had ditched her punishment, there was a good chance I’d get dragged into whatever happened as a result. I wanted to confirm the situation before anything else blew up.

“It’s fine! Grandmother told me to come help you!”

Well, I guess if that’s the case, I can trust her.

“I’ll take your word for it. By the way, Aina, what was that earlier about Primera getting scolded?”

She’d said that, and it’d been bugging me. But because Aina had immediately launched into room inspections, I hadn’t had the chance to ask her about it. Now that Aina had stepped into the hallway for a breather, I figured it was safe enough to bring it up.

“You may not have noticed, Master Tenma, but Primera mentioned your engagement to Viscount Abyss before it was officially announced. She’s likely being reprimanded, or more accurately, being given a warning. It wasn’t an official order, but the royal family, House Sanga, and House Otori had all agreed to keep the engagement a secret until the party. Primera broke that agreement, and the royal family needs to say something. Otherwise, it’ll reflect poorly on us.”

“If that’s the case, should I have stuck around too?”

If all three families had agreed to keep it a secret and she hadn’t kept her part of the bargain, that technically involved me too.

Aina shook her head and told me that it was just a formal warning. If I had stuck around, it might’ve escalated the situation.

Apparently, they wanted the Otori family to remain unaware that she had broken the agreement. The royal family and Duke Sanga would quietly sweep it under the rug with some political discretion.

“Yeah, dealing with a formal talk over something this minor would be a pain, anyway. Besides, my family doesn’t really care about noble pride or saving face. I’ll just pretend I heard about it way later and make it a funny story one day,” I said.

“I think that would be for the best,” Aina agreed.

At the end of the day, the “warning” was probably Caesar and Duke Sanga teasing Primera a bit and nothing more than that.

Now that I got that off my mind, I was about to move on to the next room when...

“You’ve been ignoring me this whole time!” Luna yelled as she stepped right into my path.

Honestly, she’d been trying to talk to me earlier when I was chatting with Aina, but it sounded like a pain, so I pretended not to hear her until I could think of how to handle it.

Well, I had come up with something, but deep down, I had hoped she’d just give it up on her own. Clearly, that hope had been in vain.

“Why didn’t you tell me about your engagement? You knew I was the only one who didn’t know, right?!” she yelled again.

“Didn’t Queen Maria tell you why during her lecture?” I asked. It was hard to imagine the topic hadn’t come up.

“She said it was because I’d blab and make a big fuss over it! That’s not a good enough reason!”

Yeah, okay. I’d also be annoyed if I were in her shoes.

Then again, if it were me, I’d probably just say it didn’t directly involve me anyway and accept it.

“The reason we kept it from you is because of something that happened with Tida,” I said dramatically, like something scandalous had gone down.

“What happened with him?” Luna asked. She took the bait immediately, just as I expected her to.

“Well, remember when I reported back to the castle after the dungeon dive? You and Tida were there with me when I went to see Queen Maria.”

“Yeah.”

“And then your mom whisked you away, remember? Well, after that, I accidentally let the news of the engagement slip in front of Tida. The queen caught it and swore him to absolute secrecy. He didn’t even tell Amy. But then Amy confronted him about it today during the announcement, and she looked really mad. So mad I was afraid she’d started hating him!” I said.

“Really?”

“I mean, that’s how it looked to me,” I told her. “If Tida got that drained just from keeping the secret, imagine what would happen if you let it slip. You’d have to face Queen Maria, Prince Caesar, and Princess Isabella. And Tida didn’t even spill the secret to anybody. You would’ve gotten it even worse.”

“I’m not that careless!” she huffed.

“Just so you know, Tida said he was constantly on edge, making sure that not even Amy found out. Just keeping quiet was a huge mental load. And Amy is part of my circle, so technically, it wouldn’t have been a big deal if she’d found out. But do you really think you could keep that kind of secret from your closest friends without cracking?”

“W-Well... Um, uh...” Even Luna couldn’t confidently puff out her chest and claim that she could’ve handled it better, so her bravado fizzled fast.

“I figured if I told you, it would’ve just given you unnecessary stress, so I chose not to. That’s how Primera and I saw it. But as for the royal family, it was probably the queen or the king who made the final call. If you really want to know the exact reason, you’ll have to ask one of them. I’m not clued in on their side of things.”

I wrapped it all up with some plausible-sounding logic, and in the end, I gently pushed the responsibility off to the king and queen.

After all, Luna might be their granddaughter, but even she wouldn’t try to push back against Queen Maria. If she had to vent about it to somebody, she’d probably just go after the king. Then he’d be the only one who was struggling.

“You know, that sounded exactly like something a scam artist would say. Avoiding anything concrete and being just vague enough to weasel their way out of it if needed.”

“Be quiet, Aina.”

She had whispered that just low enough that Luna hadn’t been able to hear her. She wasn’t technically wrong, but I hadn’t lied, so essentially, it was all good. Sure, maybe Luna would misinterpret some things, but that’d be on her. People misunderstood each other all the time.

“Luna, since you’re here, why don’t you go tidy up your room? You never know when Queen Maria might pop in for a surprise inspection,” I said.

Luna made a face at the idea of cleaning, but once the queen was mentioned, she panicked and bolted to her room.

“Aura, make sure you’re cleaning properly, even if I’m not there. I’ll be checking later.”

Aina gave her a pointed warning before turning and following after Luna. I wasn’t sure whether she was doing it to help her or to supervise.

“Thanks to Aina, I think you and I are pretty much done. Right, Gramps?”

“Yep. Now, about Primera’s room... I think we should put her close to Jeanne and the others while you’re engaged. And once you’re married, she can move to a room closer to you, depending on what she wants. And I’ll move too. Can’t get in the way of your ‘nightly activities,’ right? Heh heh!” he snickered.

“Tch!” I went to jab him in the ribs, but he was ready for it. He dodged me with an overly dramatic leap.

“Then we’ll just keep the rooms clean until Primera comes by next so she can choose the one she likes best,” Jeanne said, pretending like none of that just happened.

Since I couldn’t land a counterattack on Gramps, the three of us headed for the dining room.

And just as we were coming down the stairs, we ran into the queen. Dean was behind her, so I guessed Kriss’s lecture was over.

“Oh? Done already?” she asked.

“Tenma, Kriss is kind of worked up, so I’ll leave it to you to calm her down. Do whatever you see fit.”

“Good luck,” Dean added.

Wow, they completely dumped that one in my lap.

But I knew I’d have to deal with Kriss eventually.

“Tenma! Why didn’t you say anything?! Are you listening?! Hellooooo?! Anybody home?! Wait! Are you mad at me, Tenma?!”

The moment I stepped into the dining room, Kriss came charging over, rattling off complaints.

I ignored everything and pretended she wasn’t even there.

“I’m hungry, Tenma,” Luna said.

“Same here,” Amur said.

“You’re hungry again, Luna?” Queen Maria scolded.

Amur, Aura, and the queen had shown up not too long after.

“Jeanne, can you prep tea for nine?” I asked.

“Nine? Not ten?”

“Well, there’s me, Gramps, Amur, Jeanne, Aura, Queen Maria, Luna, Dean, and Aina. That makes nine, right? Who else is here?” I paused for a moment. “Oh, wait! Cruyff! I totally forgot about him since I haven’t seen him around since we got here.”

“Oh, actually, he had something to take care of and headed back to the castle a little while ago.”

“In that case, nine it is.”

“Jeanne, it’s ten! Ten people! That’s the correct number!” Kriss shouted.

“Go ahead and prepare for nine, Jeanne,” I said, making sure to count everyone but Kriss on purpose.

Jeanne kept glancing nervously at me as she headed off to prepare the tea. Kriss gestured and waved like a maniac, clearly trying to tell her not to forget to prepare hers. But I stood on my ground at nine.

Everyone else caught on quickly that I was still pretending that Kriss didn’t exist. They avoided eye contact with her and took their seats without a word. Meanwhile, Amur and Luna giggled at her.

Kriss was desperate to regain her humanity and tried creeping closer to me.

“Tenma. I caught a big bug. Should I toss it in the garden?” Amur asked.

“Do us a favor and throw it really far,” I said.

Amur had Kriss in a full nelson hold. Kriss thrashed around in an attempt to break free, but she was no match for Amur’s strength—not when she’d already lost control of her back, anyway. She was being dragged away when...

“Tenma, I’m sorry, okay? I won’t complain about the engagement anymore. Just please treat me like a person again!!!” Kriss yelled, tapping out.

“Oh, Kriss! When’d you get here? I didn’t even see you. I thought you’d gone back with Cruyff,” I said.

“Yeah! I was sure I’d caught a bug, but turns out it was just Kriss! What a surprise!”

It was my most half-assed performance imaginable, but I officially acknowledged her presence again.

“I nearly got kicked out, you know...” Kriss sulked, taking tiny sips of the tea Jeanne had served. She occasionally glared in my direction, but at least she stayed in her seat.

“If she could stay this quiet all the way to the wedding, that’d be great,” I muttered casually.

“That’s not happening. The dragonslayer is getting married, Duke Sanga’s heir is getting married... This year’s gonna be all about wedding gossip. And if Tenma pulls off an event like the one he did back in Gunjo City, there’ll be a spike in weddings all over the place!”

“You’re basically the headline act!” Gramps added with a laugh.

“Exactly, Master Merlin. And who knows? Even commoners might start asking to copy Tenma’s wedding, not just the nobles,” Queen Maria chimed in, sounding amused.

Honestly, I didn’t care if people copied me as long as they didn’t bother me to ask for permission.

The queen read my expression. “But you see, once a high-ranking noble or their family does something, everyone else gets cautious about copying them,” she said. “Nobles worry it’ll look like they’re stealing someone else’s idea, and commoners fear being punished or worse if they’re seen as doing something disrespectful.”

Noble society was jam-packed with that kind of pointless red tape.

If I were still a commoner, the ceremony I’d held in Gunjo City could’ve just been treated like a nice idea that anybody was free to imitate. But now that I was becoming a part of Duke Sanga’s family, everyone had to treat me like nobility, even though I didn’t have a title. That meant the rules had changed.

“What a pain. I can’t be the first person to have an event like that.”

“Maybe not, but the way you did it? Top-grade ingredients, a custom-designed menu, that giant cake... Honestly, I can’t think of a single wedding in the royal records or my own memory that even comes close. It was a pure Tenma original!” the queen said.

Great, that was just what I needed. More official recognition from Queen Maria. This wasn’t going to make my life any easier.

“If you really want to avoid a mess, you might want to have a certain someone casually mention to the other nobles that the Gunjo wedding was something you came up with yourself,” she suggested. “After that, if you give people permission to imitate it, they’d probably jump at the chance. Some might get suspicious about you giving up what could be a profitable idea, but if you frame it as a goodwill move to boost the reputations of House Otori and House Sanga, they’ll overthink it until it makes sense.”

I asked her to pass that idea along to the king with one condition—I’d give my approval to copy the wedding after Albert’s wedding. That way, it’d look like I was being considerate to the ducal house, and no one would start stupid rumors about us being on bad terms.

“People are always going to talk, no matter how much you say that certain families get along. And others are always going to believe it. But if you say that you’re holding off until your brother-in-law’s wedding is over, that sends a strong message. Your wedding might be six months away, but Albert’s is only a few months down the road,” the queen said.

Apparently, they were planning to hold Albert and Eliza’s wedding sometime in the spring. I’d only have to wait three or four months to say something. Winter weddings were rare, so this timeline wouldn’t push anything back too much.

“Well, Albert did ask me to help with it, so I’ll do my best since he’ll be my brother-in-law.”

“Just don’t overdo it,” the queen warned, eyeing me suspiciously.

That was when Luna chose to jump in. “I’m already looking forward to the wedding!” she said and began chattering about food. She assumed that when I’d said I would do my best, I’d be preparing another feast.

“You can look forward to the food and desserts all you want, Luna, but you’re probably not even going to be invited.”

“What?! Why not?!”

She looked genuinely shocked, but the only royals who would probably be invited were the king and queen, and maybe Prince Caesar and Princess Isabella. And depending on Amy, Tida might attend too. But that was already pushing the limit of attendees from the royal family, so Luna being there was highly unlikely.

“I’ll go instead of you, Tenma!”

“Luna, attending official weddings for high-ranking nobles is part of the royal family’s duties. You can’t just swap out who’s going,” I told her. “I’ll invite you to my wedding, so just chill out and let Albert have his moment.”

She kept pouting and whining after that until the queen finally snapped and told her off. It was only then that she reluctantly backed down.

But for some reason, Luna demanded that as part of the conditions for our truce, I’d save her a portion of the wedding meal and dessert.

Extra Story: The Victim of the Rematch

“Tenma! Time for a rematch!”

One day, not long after my engagement to Primera had been announced, Amur suddenly burst in, excited about something. At first, I had no clue what she was going on about, but then it hit me. She was talking about the knight golem.

Plenty of time had passed since her mock battle with it, so the fact that I even remembered right away was pretty impressive, if I did say so myself. I mean, a lot had happened since then, and it’d been one thing after another. And she and Kriss had technically won that match, so calling it a rematch didn’t feel right. Then again, they’d double-teamed the golem and Kriss had landed the final blow, so maybe Amur felt like she had unfinished business.

It was more likely that the memory had just come back to her out of nowhere and lit a fire in her again. Honestly, it made sense—that kind of thing would happen to me too. Random stuff from the past popped into my head at the weirdest times.

“I don’t mind you having a rematch, but you’ll have to head out to the plains beyond the capital. And we’ve got company coming today.”

Primera was on her way here, and Albert and Eliza were coming to talk about the wedding menu. And Cain and Leon were tagging along as well, for some reason.

All that meant I couldn’t ditch them to go mess around. I wasn’t going to just let Amur have the golem either. Besides, it only responded to my commands. Even if I were to hand it over, she wouldn’t be able to boot it up.

“Hmm, then I’ll bring Primera, Albert, and Pigtails along! You can talk while I have my rematch!” she announced like it was the most brilliant plan in history.

I thought her idea was ridiculous, but just in case, I ran it by the others once they showed up.

“That actually sounds kinda fun! A change of scenery could do us good.”

Eliza was the first to jump on board, and once she got going, Primera didn’t stand a chance. She got swept up in the excitement and gave her okay too. And just like that, we decided we’d talk wedding menu logistics out on the plains while watching Amur’s rematch.

The supposed main character of the day, Albert, never got a word in edgewise. Cain and Leon were as visible as the air itself.

“Same opponent as last time, Amur?”

“Of course!”

She wanted to fight the same golem as before, which was the one we’d nicknamed Unit One. I’d upgraded its overall performance since then, but the biggest changes were to its equipment. It had swung around a stick before, but now, it was actually armed and wielded a single-handed sword and shield. They were golem-sized, though, so in human terms, the sword would be considered a two-hander.

“Yeah! I don’t have any complaints about my opponent!”

Unit One was way stronger than before, and this time, it was a true one-on-one matchup. Amur charged in, looking thrilled.

“Guess that southern blood really does make her a battle junkie...” Eliza said, shaking her head as she watched Amur charge at the golem. It countered her attack with a body slam. “By the way, Tenma, what’s the difference between the units?” Eliza asked, putting aside the wedding talk for a moment.

“They don’t look that different, and they’re all about the same performance-wise. I might tweak their appearances down the line so they’re easier to tell apart. Right now, the only real differences are their weapons and ponytail colors.”

“If you can swap those out, it won’t help at all.”

“Good point,” I said.

You could tell them apart if you looked closely enough because there were little scratches here and there. But it was human nature to go for the obvious, which would lead people to mix them up later. Primera really liked the interchangeable ponytails, and sometimes, she’d switch them around just for fun. In a way, she was the one causing the confusion.

It had taken a while, but Cain finally lost his battle against his curiosity. “What weapons do the other two have?” he asked.

“They have a few options, but usually they use dual swords and a long spear.”

“Oh? That kinda sounds like us.”

Leon had a point. Structurally, the golems did kinda mirror the three idiots in terms of team balance.

“Yeah, I guess there’s some overlap, although a golem in the rear can step into the vanguard too, unlike me. So they’re pretty different in that case,” Cain argued.

“Are they, though? You’ve got close-range, mid-range, and long-range. Same as us,” Leon said. He insisted that as long as they didn’t overlap, they were the same.

The more they talked about it, the worse the argument got.

That, of course, dragged Albert into the mix.

“Why am I getting pulled into this? We came here to talk about the wedding. I don’t want to do all this,” he complained.

He didn’t want to, but that didn’t stop him either. Next thing I knew, the golem trio was taking on the three idiots in a mock battle.

“Hah! I’ll crush you like... Ow!”

“Amur, stop flailing around, or I won’t be able to treat you properly.”

“You took a direct hit that would’ve broken a bone in normal circumstances. Sit down and let me finish patching you up,” I said. “And don’t shout things like that either. You just got crushed, and if you keep pushing yourself, you’ll get even more hurt. And nobody wants that.”

Amur had gotten a little too fired up trying to punch through Unit One’s defenses. She had charged in like a bull, took a clean counter to the ribs, lost her weapon midair, and couldn’t even get back on her feet. We’d called the match then and there. It’d been her loss, and that hadn’t sat well with her, obviously. She’d tried to throw some of that frustration at the next challengers, but she had gotten cut off before she could land a full hit.

“Look, Albert and the others convinced me to let them try by asking politely, but realistically, if the three of them couldn’t beat Amur together, they’re not gonna beat the golem that beat her,” I said. “Their fight isn’t about winning—it’s to see how long they can survive.”

I said that mostly to keep Amur from pouting, but honestly, I’d be impressed if those three would last a full minute.

Fighting a golem three-on-one might’ve given them a better shot, but they insisted on a three-on-three setup, which was one golem per idiot. That meant they were all going solo against a golem.

That being the situation, I thought they might not even last thirty seconds. Primera and the others seemed to agree with me too. But against all expectations, the match went on for almost two minutes.

Albert and Leon went down in under thirty seconds, but the only reason it continued was because Cain ran. He used the other two as bait and sprinted off to the far edge of the field, firing off arrows from a distance. He claimed he was just maintaining optimal range, but no one was buying it.

Needless to say, everyone gave Cain the cold shoulder for a while after that.

Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World Volume 12 / End

Afterword

Thank you so much for reading Isekai Tensei: Recruited to Another World Volume 12!

Now, first things first—I discovered that I made a pretty major mistake in the story, so let me start by saying I’m really sorry. But honestly, most of you are probably wondering what I’m talking about, so let me explain.

Back in volume 1, I had mentioned that on the continent where the Kingdom of Krastin is located, there were other countries like the Principality of Hangul and the Republic of Gilst. But somewhere along the way, that Republic of Gilst mysteriously morphed into the Empire of Gilst.

I think what happened was that I had meant to write “republic” and accidentally wrote “empire” but then I just kept going with it, totally not noticing at all. In the end, the republic was destroyed.

Since the term “republic” only really appeared in the early part of the series and “empire” has been used for much longer, I’ve decided to go ahead and officially declare that the Empire of Gilst is its canon name going forward. I’m really sorry about that mix-up!

Anyway, let’s talk about volume 12 now.

Tenma and Primera got engaged, Albert and Eliza set a date for their wedding, there was lots of dungeon diving, a hydra appeared...but honestly, the star of the show was the knight golem.

I’d been meaning to introduce these golems for ages, and after I kicked the can down the road over and over, they finally showed up here as a gift for Primera, no less.

Also, for the record, I didn’t write Primera with the idea of her becoming Tenma’s main love interest. The plan was for him to meet a different heroine during each arc and every stop on his journey, which included Primera. (And yes, the Wildcat Princesses are heroines like that too.) But that idea kind of fell apart once Jeanne, who was supposed to be a local heroine, ended up joining the party and tagging along.

As for the writing process for this volume...let’s just say it was very hectic. A million little revisions needed to be done, each one creating more work than the last. But the worst part was the extra story. It’s not because of its word count—it’s actually one of the shorter extra stories I’ve written. But since it comes before the exclusive bonus story, I had a heck of a time coming up with a decent idea for it.

And once I did finally settle on something, I ran into another problem—I blew right past the character limit halfway through. The plan was to show Amur’s mock battle, which would be followed by each match with the three idiots, and then Cain would get roasted at the end. However, I also wrote a short bit from Albert’s POV about how he had gotten dragged into the whole thing.

I felt really good after I cranked the whole thing out, but it was only then that I found out I’d gone over the limit by nearly a thousand characters once I pasted it into the layout file from my editor.

So in the end, the Albert POV section got the axe for the sake of overall balance. That meant I now had to fill in the gap, smooth over the transitions, and rewrite the awkward connections that’d been caused by the changes I had just made. Since the whole thing was only about four thousand characters long, I’d thought it would be easy. I’d like to give past me a stern talking-to.

Anyway, if I keep rambling, I’m going to run out of space again, so let’s wrap it up here.

Thanks to everyone who’s stuck with this series all the way to volume 12, even if I’ve made big blunders like that.

We’re finally getting to the point where the ending’s in sight. I hope you’ll stick with me all the way to the finish line!

—Kenichi

Bonus Story: A Knight Golem Made for XX

“Tenma, are you planning on making any more knight golems?” Gramps asked.

“I have monster cores I could use to make some, but I don’t have enough metal for the bodies. I could get some ordinary iron or magic iron, but I don’t think it’d be durable enough. Those materials would be enough if you didn’t expect much from them in terms of fighting strength. But for a knight golem, its body would probably get warped just from moving around.”

“So its body wouldn’t be able to keep up with its insides, huh?”

No matter how much fighting strength it had, there was really no point in making a golem that could only be used for a short time. They could only really be used in the case of an emergency to fight alongside or in place of you, or to buy you time while you ran away. So in that case, it would be a lot more useful to build several lower-level golems for the same cost.

“Well, there is a certain golem I’d like to make if I had the time and resources...” I muttered aloud.

Gramps was suspicious. “What have you got up your sleeve, Tenma?”

I thought about trying to fudge the truth, but I knew it wouldn’t work on him. So I told him honestly about my plans if things worked out.

“Can’t you just get the mythril you need somehow? Worst-case scenario, I can always blackmail Alex with an embarrassing story. Want me to do that? Or maybe Ernest?”

“Gramps, if you do that, Queen Maria will get mad at you. We have to exhaust all other options first. Plus, it’s not like there’s anything that I technically can’t do—it’s just that the uncertainty factor is high. That’s why I wanna secure the materials in a way that won’t end with a lecture.”

My big idea was to make a chariot that the knight golems could use. It would basically be a big combat carriage. Since all I had to do was make sure it had enough space for the knight golems to ride on it, I thought it would be easier to make than a regular carriage. However, the problem wasn’t the vehicle itself, but the horses. If Thunderbolt could pull it, I could test it out as soon as the vehicle part was ready, but Thunderbolt’s current job was an important one—he was pulling around the usual carriage. Still, if Thunderbolt couldn’t do it, I’d have to use regular horses, and they definitely wouldn’t be able to stand the strain of pulling knight golems.

So, my plan to solve that problem was to make another Thunderbolt. Luckily, I had both the knowledge and experience of creating Valley Wind and Thunderbolt under my belt, and I had magic cores from the earth dragon and running dragon that I thought could work too. And Kelly was in the capital, so I knew I would have enough manpower to help. If I were to use those two lower-level dragon cores as the base and then supplement them with other magic cores, I might be able to build a horse-type golem comparable to Thunderbolt if all went well.

But once it came to actually making it, there was a greater problem than a simple supply shortage. I was worried about my new golem going berserk.

Back when I had made Valley Wind, although I’d used an ancient dragon core, it’d been split, so I’d never had any problems with it carrying out my orders. For Thunderbolt, I had also used the bicorn core, and as a result, it moved almost of its own free will, like a living creature. It did listen to my orders, but that was probably due to it having Valley Wind’s experience.

If I used magic cores from the earth dragon and the running dragon, I was worried it might inherit the wills of those creatures when they were alive. And if those worries were to become a reality, there was a good chance it could go berserk, unlike Thunderbolt. And if the only memories the cores retained were those of me killing those dragons? It’d be a wonder if the new golem didn’t go berserk.

“A metallic body with the mind of a dragon... A monster like that would be way too dangerous,” Gramps said.

“That’s why I want to secure a space to build it where I won’t have to worry about anyone getting hurt,” I said. “If it fails, the fallout would basically be like a terrorist attack.”

“That’s true... Well, I can’t wait to see it.”

I had a feeling that what Gramps wanted to see wasn’t the knight golem riding the chariot, but the scenery passing by as he himself rode the chariot. To be honest, I was excited about that too.

But those plans would have to be on hold until I was fully prepared. Once my friends found out what I’d had in mind, they praised me for actually holding back. Meanwhile, Gramps got into one of his usual arguments with Ernest, who accused him of either going senile or being ill.