Translator: Reflet

Editor: Weasalopes

The visitation room in the castle of Wulls was filled with quiet tension.

「At ease.」

In response to the King's command, the group looked up, still kneeling. As if to judge every move of each member, the dozen or so other attendees (high-profile senators and advisors) glared at them. In short, the party were not in the enemy's home turf, to say the least. The saving grace for the j.a.panese members were the friendly looks given from the queen (standing next to the King) and the King's concubines standing on either side of the royal couple.

The members of the party were wearing their Wyvern leather armor (which had been cleaned) for selling their adventuring prowess. In fact, Hiros.h.i.+'s leather armor's refined design, combined their material, did help the members exude some presence, in a strange way. It was one of the few outfits (or equipment, at this point) that took advantage of Hiros.h.i.+'s curse of looking unfas.h.i.+onable in all attires.

「You have accomplished a great deed. As King, as a father, I thank you.」

「An unworthy honor, Your Majesty.」

Per their script, Tatsuya responded to the King's words, representing the group. In order to give the impression that he was the amba.s.sador of the group, they had decided that Tatsuya would be the one to answer anything, unless the other members were directly spoken to. In accordance with the customs of Farlane's court, the Grand Chamberlain relayed the words spoken by Tatsuya, and the first conversation had concluded.

「At ease.」

It must not look well to keep them knelt for the entire time. The group followed the King's orders, and stood straight, arms at their sides. They had asked the royal family for the correct posture in these scenarios, and the answer was that their posture just couldn't be relaxed.

「With such a momentum accomplishment, the royal family would be ashamed to have your reward be nothing more than my words. Is there anything you wish for?」

The King spoke, per the script they discussed in secret last night, and Tatsuya moved to relay his predetermined response to the Grand Chamberlain. Seeing this, the King added:

「I permit you to speak directly. In your own words, tell me.」

He must have feared that the Grand Chamberlain may distort the message.

「Then I will, Your Majesty, with your permission. If this may be granted, we would wish for access to all literature in the library.」

「That won't be a problem. Why do you ask this?」

「We have been transported to this country through a mysterious occurrence, unwillingly. Our homeland is so distance from Farlane, that we don't even know which direction to go from here. But I have a wife back home. Everyone here has family there. We are desperate to return home, and are searching for any clue that can lead us there.」

「I see. Guests from the unknown continent. I understand how you don't know where we are in the world. In that case, you must be in need of other a.s.sistance, too. Do you truly wish for nothing more?」

Tatsuya responded with a confident nod. While they had no idea about how they got here, they didn't even know what a.s.sistance would aid them in the first place. They were easily surviving as is, and they had no idea what their next step should be. So, the best reward they could wish for was to access any and all pieces of literature (including those in the forbidden library).

「Very well. I will grant you access to all literature that can be read in the library. However, you must always accompany the High Monk or my secretary. Some of those books are even forbidden to touch.」

「We are sincerely grateful.」

Tatsuya said, leading the group in a synchronized bow. According to plan, this would be the end of the ceremony.

「Great accomplishment indeed. You may retire.」

Bowing again to the King's dismissal, the group moved to leave, when one of the political leaders jumped in.

「A moment, Your Majesty!」

「What is it?」

「Permission to speak directly?」

「Granted.」

The King nodded with solemnity. The group had been warned that there may be some interjections at this point. Even as they considered this extremely tiresome, they kept their composure and listened.

「They really healed Princess Elena and rescued Princess Aearis from the spider's lair?」

「The princesses have confirmed it, and Layotte has seen nearly the entire process of Elena's recovery. Their background has no clause for suspicions, and as such, I guarantee that this is the truth. Or else, do you accuse Elena and Layotte of utter stupidity?」

「N-Never! But for such a young man to heal what our best doctor couldn't…」

「Don't judge our guests from the unknown continent with our caged mind. Even in recorded history, there are several examples where one's appearance didn't show their true powers.」

「This is a different story! While we do acknowledge that, save for one, no one in this group was in contact with the court, except through requests of the Adventurers' a.s.sociation, and understand that the entire ordeal could not have been a hoax perpetrated by the royal family, I, and many others, will not accept these proofs when they are solely comprised of first-hand testimony!」

Hearing this, Hiros.h.i.+ raised his hand, rather timidly.

「What is it?」

「May I speak directly?」

Hiros.h.i.+ asked, with his thick accent. Of course, by asking this permission, he was directly speaking to the King already, but alas, such were the customs of the court of Farlane.

「You may.」

Despite Hiros.h.i.+'s thick accent, no one in the room was going to mock him for it. They were high-ranking political figures, after all.

「First of all, I'm from the countryside, so forgive me for speakin' rudely and for my accent.」

「Speak freely. No one here is thoughtless enough to mock a man's accent, or deem it ill-mannered.」

The political leaders nodded in agreement, as if there wasn't a doubt about it. Denouncing one's accent was to denounce their hometown, which lead to denouncing their own country. It might have been a different story if his accent made him unintelligible, but as long as that wasn't the case, no one would accuse a peasant of lacking etiquette for their accent.

「First, 'bout rescuin' Princess Aearis, I gotta have y'all trust us on the base of the proof of hunt down at the a.s.sociation. As for treatin' Princess Elena, I can make y'all some sort of potion or another usin' materials and equipment here in the castle. What y'all think?」

Terrified, Hiros.h.i.+ desperately formed his words to the utmost manners he could muster. The political leaders could help but look at him with a more than a hint of pity, even as they were shook by what Hiros.h.i.+ was saying. The truth was, most of them weren't as suspicious of the party as they claimed to be. They were only speaking up now to establish concrete evidence (lest they give some shady characters any wiggle room down the road).

They were ready to accept a cla.s.s 4 potion like the one he gave Layotte before, or any potion above cla.s.s 6 for that matter. Even a cla.s.s 6 potion was nearly impossible for an average adventurer to acquire. That, at least would prove that they were able to acquire precious potions. Having them crafted in front of them was approaching overkill.

「Hm… Is that possible?」

「Depends on the ingredients here. As long as there's an expensive ingredient or two, I can wiggle 'em up to cla.s.s 6 or so. If we got some stuff from 'round the hills of Spirit Spire Mountain, we could get a little higher than that. 'course the quality won't be as good as makin' 'em with the right ingredients.」

「If you can make us a cla.s.s 6, it won't matter if the quality is sub-optimal.」

With that, the King ordered all types of herbs and equipment in the castle to the visitation area, as much as they could fit. By "quality" Hiros.h.i.+ meant the amount of HP that would be replenished. Still, Hiros.h.i.+'s potion (while not as effective as he could make it) would be much more effective than the standard potion.

「We're in for a bit of a mess, aren't we?」

「I mean, I can't say we didn't expect this…」

In the down while the ingredients were being acquired, Haruna Tastsuya whispered to each other. In fact, they didn't worry for a second that Hiros.h.i.+ would mess up the potion making. They were more worried about him going too far on some aspects.

「Is this all?」

Asked the King.

「Yes. This is all we have.」

「So, what can you make from these?」

Hiros.h.i.+ contemplated.

「…With these, and one of the equipment's I got and some off my stockpile…」

Mumbling the procedure to commence, Hiros.h.i.+ was figuring out the very best he could craft with his circ.u.mstances.

「If we can use a piece of equipment and two ingredients from the bags we checked earlier, I can hit cla.s.s 3.」

「…Truly?」

「I ain't so stupid to spew a lie here. Oh darn, I gotta take out the bottles too… We got a fifty of 'em from the Cerberus fangs, so that's 'bout it, I reckon…」

The crowd turn at Hiros.h.i.+, shocked.

「Cer-Cerberus?」

「Lord Douga brought 'em back to us the other day. 'Course, it's meat taste bad, it's gut can't be made into medicine, and only it's hide, bones, claws and fangs are worth anythin' from it's big lump. What a let-down monster that thin' is.」

Hiros.h.i.+ answered. Now that he had made up his mind on what to make, his skittishness had disappeared. The political leaders couldn't conceal their tightening expressions. Normally, a Cerberus (unless someone like Julius, Douga, or Rayna was on the scene) would require ten seasoned knights and a mage to take down even a single one of them. Now this man was calling it a let-down monster? They were speechless.