Three days after I bought Ephyr, I visited the royal palace to see Dillan, together with Finne, Iris, and Asha.
I had sent a letter about Ephyr the day she told us her story, but the kingâs reply said that he wanted to talk about it in person.
We thus waited for her to recover completely, then headed to the palace to report.
That day, Ephyr would stay in the residence, to receive Lyla and Miaâs maid training.
As soon as we entered the palace and were led to a guest room, Dillan joined us.
âHaruto, is it true that the elf princess was turned into a slave?â
Dillan asked immediately about Ephyr.
âYes, let me explain in detail.â
I related Ephyrâs story to Dillan, exactly as she had told me.
â â I see, so thatâs what happened. I was aware that elves lived in that forested area, but we did not have any relations with that village, so we did not even realize itâŚGlicente, you lout. Last week, he suddenly spouts about having summoned the âHeroes of legendâ and demands for all other states to give them special treatmentâŚheâs acting more and more arrogantly these daysâŚâ
I picked up something curious among the words mumbled by Dillan.
âPlease wait, Dillan, what did you say about âHeroesâ?â
âHm? Oh, apparently Glicente succeeded in summoning Heroes, a little more than a month ago. Summoning Heroes is stipulated to be possible only if all Three States officially agree to, and yetâŚanyway, what about it?â
I see, so the kingdom of Glicente did it all on their ownâŚ
I fell completely silent, so Dillan looked at me with suspicion.
âHmm, wellâŚI suppose I should tell you everything, Dillan.â
âSir Haruto, are you sure?â
I nodded to Finne, then created a barrier to prevent any sound from leaking outside.
âDillan, forgive me, but I just created a barrier around us. I donât want anyone else to hear what Iâm about to tell you.â
ââŚthatâs fine by me. I imagine itâs something of vital importance.â
Dillan saw that my expression was nothing but serious and nodded.
âThank you. What I wanted to tell you is my relation with the Heroes and the Glicente kingdomâ â
I thus told Dillan the very same confession I had done to Finne and the others a couple days before.
After my explanation, Dillan sighed deeply.
âWho could ever have imagined that the source of your strength was something like thatâŚin any case, something must be done about GlicenteâŚâ
âDillan, could you let me handle Glicente?â
âNo, Haruto, I understand your feelings, but this is an issue between statesâŚplease let me think about it.â
Well, there was no denying that Dillan was right.
If I took my revenge as I wanted, innocent citizens might end up suffering as a result.
I was considering such thoughts, when I noticed someoneâs presence in front of the door.
I deactivated the barrier and that someone knocked.
âYour Majesty, it is I, Zebastian. I apologize to interrupt you, but may I have a moment?â
âCome in.â
Dillan gave permission and Zebastian entered the room, then bowed to us.
âYour Majesty, there are guests wishing to have an audience.â
âGuests? There werenât any audiences scheduled todayâŚâ
âIt is something related to Lord Haruto, actually.â
âMe?â
Zebastian turned towards me and nodded.
âYes. The guests have stated to be looking for Lord Haruto, and wish to have an audience with Your Majesty in hopes to receive information about him.â
âTheyâre looking for Haruto? Why would they come asking me?â
Zebastian immediately resolved Dillanâs doubt.
âThe guests claim to be Heroes, actuallyâŚtheir leader introduced himself as Tendo.â
Wha?
I froze for a few seconds.
Why was Tendo here? Ichinomiya is probably together with him tooâŚ
They probably heard about the EX rank, so they came to the country where the ceremony was held, butâŚ
Dillan, Finne, Iris and Asha all looked at me.
I could use teleportation to go back without meeting them, but depending on the reason why they came, it might be worth it to see themâŚ
As I was pondering, Dillan asked about my intentions.
âWhat will you do, Haruto? As the king, I have a duty to accept their request for an audience, but should I have you meet?â
ââŚyes, I guess I could use the opportunity to see their faces. Depending on the reason why theyâre looking for me, I might meet them too.â
âUnderstood. Then you could wait in the audience room with miss Finne, pretending to be guards. If you think itâs okay to actually meet them, just give me a signal.â
âOkay, thank you.â
Dillan nodded and glanced at Zebastian, who left the guest room.
He was going to take the Heroes to the audience room, I thought.
We too went to the audience room to wait.
Finne and I wore hoods to cover most of our faces and stood in a position where Tendo and the others couldnât see us easily.
Iris was standing next to Dillanâs throne. Asha was in a corner of the room, with other maids.
Soon after our preparations were complete, Tendoâs party was led into the room.
Tendo was the first of the group, followed by Ichinomiya, Mogami, Asakura, and Shinonome.
It was the childhood friends group, minus Orihara ShoyaâŚI wonder if anything happened to him?
The group of five lined up in front of the throne and got on one knee.
âWe are deeply thankful for allowing us an audience on such short notice, Your Majesty.â
âRaise your heads, please.â
Tendo and the others duly complied.
âO Heroes of Glicente, you are welcome in our Perdis. I am the ruler of this kingdom, Dillan Arclaidh Perdis. She is my daughter, Iris.â
Iris bowed and Tendoâs group introduced themselves in turn.
âI am Tendo Koji, Hero from the kingdom of Glicente.â
âI am Ichinomiya Suzuno.â
âI am Mogami Shinya.â
âI am Asakura Natsuki.â
âI am Shinonome Aoi.â
âI see you are truly young, exactly as King Glicente statedâŚsir Tendo, to what do I owe the honor of your visit?â
Tendo looked straight at Dillan and answered.
âWe are looking for the adventurer named Haruto, who was recently promoted to EX rank. We have heard that the promotion ceremony was held in this country, so we thought Your Majesty might know somethingâŚâ
âHmm, it is true that Sir Harutoâs ceremony was held here, butâŚâ
âIs that true!? Your Majesty, do you know where he might be?â
Ichinomiya was still kneeling, but leaned forward as if she wanted to run to Dillan.
âPlease tell us, sire!â
âWe humbly beg you, sire!â
âPlease!â
âYour Majesty, please tell us!â
After Ichinomiya, Tendo, Mogami, Asakura and Shinonome all pleaded, bowing their heads.
ââŚlet me ask one thing first. Why are you looking for Sir Haruto?â
Dillan glanced at me for one second, then asked the question to Tendoâs group.
âThat isâŚbecause the adventurer named Haruto might be an important friend of ours. Maybe he doesnât see us in the same wayâŚbut for us, Haruto is a very important person!â
âThere are things I havenât told him yet! If Haruto the adventurer is the same Haruto I know, there are many things I wish to tell himâŚplease, Your Majesty, please tell us anything you knowâŚ!â
After Tendo and Ichinomiya spoke, Mogami, Asakura and Shinonome nodded too.
So they didnât come looking for me because the king of Glicente told them to kill me, but because they were sincerely worried.
ââŚI see. Your earnest pleas do not fall on deaf ears.â
Dillan looked in my direction again and I nodded to him.
Tendo and the others did not seem to be lying, so I thought it would not be a problem to meet them.
âI shall tell you where you can find Sir Haruto.â
The faces of Tendo and the others lit up.
âThank you very much!! Where should weâ â
Dillan interrupted Tendo and pointed towards me.
âSIr Haruto is right over there.â
âEh?â
âOver thereâŚ?â
âW-wasnât there a guard thereâŚ?â
Tendo and the others turned towards me and I lifted the hood from my head.
âHey there. How are you guys doing? You look great, Heroes.â
I casually greeted and waved at the group, causing them to freeze on the spot.
The first one to âregain her sensesâ and speak was Ichinomiya.
âHaâŚHaruto? Are you really Haruto!? Youâre not an imposter, are you!?â
Ichinomiya slowly walked towards me as she talked.
âWhat fool would go around pretending theyâre meâŚ?â
âAahâŚwaahâŚyouâre really aliveâŚwaahâŚIâm so glad!!!â
I smiled wryly and Ichinomiya hugged me, breaking down in tears.
âIâm so gladâŚI could see you againâŚâ
âSorry for making you worry.â
I patted Ichinomiyaâs head.
Ever since she hugged me, though, I feel stinging gazesâŚfrom Iris and Finne, who had removed her hood too. They were whispering among themselves, so I used Physical Boost on my hearing to learn what they were saying.
âA-another one? I have to do my bestâŚIâm the first wife, soâŚâ
âHmm!? I have found the fourth wife, havenât I?â
Princess Iris? Whatâs this âfourth wifeâ business? I didnât know I had a third one in the first place?
I didnât know how I could explain the situation, or how I had gotten into it in the first placeâŚas I was lost in such thoughts, Tendo and the others ran up to me too.
âYou really are HarutoâŚright?â
âIâm glad to see youâre alive, Yuki!â
âYouâre kind of different from before, though. But yeah, Iâm glad to see youâre fine.â
âThatâs trueâŚIâm happy to see you well too.â
Tendo, Mogami, Asakura and Shinonome expressed their relief too.
They could just use Appraisal on me, I thought, but kept it to myself and smiled wryly at them.
âHehâŚwell, what can I say, Iâm glad to see you guys are doing fine too. Orihara isnât with you?â
âWeâre Heroes, after all. Weâre more surprised to see you safe and soundâŚOrihara is with another group now.â
Mogami nodded repeatedly to Tendoâs words.
I found it pretty curious that Orihara wasnât in the same group as them, butâŚ
âŚbefore I could say anything about it, Ichinomiya finally stopped crying and asked me a question.
âHaruto.â
âHm?â
âEhm, could you tell us what happened to you after you left the castle? Princess Mariana told us that you left on your own and were found gravely wounded in a forest near the capitalâŚand nothing else. What did actually happen?â
âAah, about thatâŚâ
I paused for a moment and looked at Dillan.
He quickly understood what I meant to say, then spoke to Ichinomiya and the others.
âO Heroes, I believe you will find it more comfortable to speak elsewhere. Let us conclude the audience here, you may continue in the guest room. I hope you will allow me to participate, yes?â
Tendo and the others all nodded to Dillanâs proposal.
It wasnât exactly a quick and easy topic, so it was surely better to move to a more comfortable location.
~
We thus went back to the guest room, with Dillan and Asha in the lead.
For some reason, however, Finne and Iris both came next to me, to walk arm in arm until we arrived.
On my right arm, the tender sensation of Finneâs chest. On my left, IrisââŚwell, just Iris.
Once again, I felt a stinging gaze â but this time, it came from behind.
I turned around to find out what it was and almost yelped.
Tendo didnât seem to think anything of it, while Mogami looked a little jealous. All good so far.
The ladies, however, were simply terrifying.
Did they think I became a skirt chaser or something?
The tense atmosphere lingered until we arrived at the guest room.
There were two wide sofas in the room: Tendo and the other four sat on one, while Finne, me, Iris and Dillan â in that order â sat on the other. Normally, Dillan should be the one sitting in the middle, thoughâŚ
Finne and Iris were still locking arms with me, so Ichinomiya and the other two girls kept staring daggers.
I was pretty spooked inside, but tried speaking as normally as I could.
ââŚitâs been a while, guys. So, you were told that âI left on my own and was then found gravely wounded in the forest, and nothing elseâ, right?â
âYes, at least thatâs what Princess Mariana told usâŚâ
Tendo nodded to my question.
I looked at their reactions and sighed deeply.
âWellâŚthatâs not wrong, actually.â
ââŚthatâs not what actually happened, right?â
âNot exactly.â
For a moment, I hesitated whether I should tell them the whole truth or not â but decided to do it.
âThe reason why I left was that Mariana kicked me out. Since they didnât need useless people.â
ââŚ.!?â
Ichinomiya swallowed her breath. Next to her, Tendo frowned.
âI canât believe itâŚbut it explains why we didnât hear anything about Haruto the adventurer and the promotion to EX rankâŚso she kept the information from us on purposeâŚ?â
âHm? When did you guys leave the Glicente capital?â
âAbout one week ago. When we arrived in Vaana, we first heard about âHaruto the EX rank adventurerâ.â
Mogami answered my question and I reflected a bit.
The EX rank promotion ceremony was held more than 10 days ago. It was decided in a summit between the rulers of the Three Great States, so Glicenteâs king had to know about someone called âHarutoâ being promoted to EX rank. There was no way to tell if Mariana knew about it too, though.
ââŚin any case, the reason why I left the castle was exactly that. When I left the town and arrived in the forest, a group of Glicente knights attacked me and I almost died.â
âWhat!? Glicente knights attacked you!? They said that they found you wounded in the forest, butâŚâ
âTheyâre the reason why I was wounded in the first place. They didnât finish me off, but they left me there to die.â
Asakura was shocked, so I explained further.
âWhat happened next, Yuki? I mean, you survived, right?â
Shinonome seemed puzzled, so I replied.
âYeah, then I met God andâ â
I continued and explained everything up to my promotion to EX rank.
After I finished talking, the room was deadly silent for a while.
Maybe because I was talking seriously, Finne and Iris released my arms and looked up at me, with concern in their eyes.
I smiled at them and patted their heads to console them.
The silence was eventually broken by Ichinomiya.
âI could never imagine something like that happenedâŚHarutoâŚwhat are you going to do now?â
âHmm, wellâŚâ
Tendo, Mogami, Asakura and Shinonome too â they all looked at me intently.
I took a deep breath, then answered.
ââŚactually, recently I bought an elf slave.â
Maybe because of the word âslaveâ, Tendo and the others looked confused, wondering what I wanted to say.
Despite such a reaction, however, I continued normally.
âThat slave is actually an elf princess. But it doesnât make sense for a princess to become a slave, right? So I asked how that could happen, and she told me that the village she used to live in was attacked, about one year ago.â
âAn elf village? Humans canât go there, right?â
The Heroes were probably educated about this world: Tendo looked at me, puzzled.
âYet it was attacked by humans. People we know, actually.â
âYou canât meanâ â
âExactly. It was attacked by an army from Glicente, the kingdom that summoned us.â
Tendo probably expected me to say it, so his shock wasnât too great.
Ichinomiya and the other three, however, looked like they couldnât believe their ears.
âW-why would they do such a thing!?â
âElves, as a species, have beautiful, elegant features. They might have thought of catching them to make them into their slaves.â
âIs there proof that they were really attacked by Glicente soldiers?â
âWe donât have any physical proof. Only the characteristics of the invadersâ armor, which the elf princess told us about, and the fact that the village was located in a forest on the border between Perdis and Glicente, so the invasion couldnât have come from another country. Thatâs how we concluded that the army had to come from Glicente.â
I answered Mogami and Asakuraâs questions. Ichinomiya listened with a pained expression, and Shinonome looked at her with worry.
âI-I canât believe itâŚwhy would theyâŚ?â
âSuzunoâŚâ
I could understand that she didnât want to accept it.
The country that summoned her tried to have one of her classmates killed and attacked an elven village to capture the inhabitants and make them into slaves.
That was the undeniable truth, however.
I went quiet for a moment and Tendo asked me another question.
ââŚI see. So, considering all of what you told us, what do you plan to do, Haruto?â
âWell, first of all, I am thinking of crushing the kingdom of Glicente. Absolutely.â
When I finished speaking, everyone in the room shuddered.
Whoops, my Intimidation leaked againâŚ
I deactivated it immediately and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
âSorry, I leaked a little Intimidation just now.â
âT-thatâs fine. Anyway Haruto, how do you plan to crush Glicente? I too am of the opinion that something must be done about that country, but do you have any concrete ideas?â
I had to shake my head to Dillanâs question.
âNo, I havenât thought about it yet. For now, Iâm thinking of going to Ephyrâs village, to see in what state it is. Sheâs recovered already, so weâll probably leave in a few days.â
âThe elf village, I seeâŚwe never had any connections with it, so we do not even know if it still exists or not, but I surely am interested in knowing its current state. Will you be able to reach it, though?â
âHmm, well, Ephyr probably knows, I guess.â
That was a bit too optimistic of me, but there was no point in thinking about that now.
I was going to go with Ephyr and Finne too, so she could train on the way.
Just as I formulated such a plan, Iris spoke up.
âIâm coming too, Haruto!â
Eh? Can I really take the princess with me? It might be dangerousâŚ
I looked at Dillan to see what he thought, but he nodded ever so casually.
âIf youâre with her, then itâs fine. Asha, you accompany Iris too.â
âThank you, father!â
âEh? Me too, sireâŚ?â
Iris was overjoyed, but Asha was taken completely by surprise.
ââŚwell, if Dillan says so, I have no complaints.â
I nodded, then turned to Tendoâs group.
âWhat are you going to do, guys?â
âWell, now we know youâre fine, soâ â
âE-excuse me! May I ask something first?â
Tendo started replying, but Ichinomiya â unusually for her â interrupted him.
âWhatâs wrong, Ichinomiya?â
âHaruto, wellâŚthese two girls have been very close to you since beforeâŚwhat exactly are they to you?â
Ichinomiyaâs gaze was quite ominous.
If I didnât pick my words carefully, I could step on a landmineâŚ
âFinne and Iris? Well, theyâreâ â
âHarutoâs wives!!â
âH-hey!!â
I was trying to dodge the issue somehow, but the truth bomb was dropped before I could do anything.