Summary of the last chapter in three lines

Souta 「I want to go home soon.」

King 「Wait a bit, I will hand a souvenir over.」

A man in butler clothes brings something.

A man in butler clothes comes into the room with something covered in cloth in his hand. And then he shows what's beneath cloth to Souta and the others.

Beneath it is a luxuriously decorated dagger, and on its handle there is the royal family crest engraved.

「It’s a luxurious dagger indeed, but if I’m asked whether I want it or not…」

Souta only looks at it without taking it.

「So-Souta-dono, you’d better take this. With this, you can pa.s.s any checkpoint just by showing it, you can also get the permission to enter the royal castle as well.」

As it’s such a fine article, Narasu’s voice is a bit shaky.

「It’s amazing Souta-san!」

Arezel who also looks at it hops up and down in excitement.

「Ummm, let’s say I receive this, and then I try to pa.s.s a checkpoint, right? And then they will instead say “You b.a.s.t.a.r.d!! Where did you steal this!”」

「Tha-That possibility never crossed my mind… Umu~, it’s indeed true. For a human to have this is hard to believe….」

Crestfallen, the man in butler clothes hangs his head with his shoulders slumped.

「Hahh~ even though I came in person with this kind of clothing, in the end it’s no good…..」

After the man dishevels his swept-back hair, remove his gla.s.ses, and his beard, what shows up is the face of the king they just met before.

「So, it really you….」

Souta already guess his ident.i.ty so there is no hint of surprise in his demeanor.

「Eh- EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE HMPH HMPHHHHHH….」

Too surprised, Arezel shouts in a loud voice that might reverberate inside the castle. But before anyone knew it, Roury is already right behind Arezel and blocks her mouth.

「Yes, yes. Try to be quiet.」

「HMPPPHH! HMPHMHMPH! Hmphh……」

Arezel tries to resist at first, but with Roury’s strength, she can’t move at all. Not long after, she gives up and stop stirring about.

「Hahh~hahh~ S-Sorry, I was surprised and reflexively shout…」

After being liberated, Arezel immediately apologizes to everyone.

「Yeah I understand your feeling, however, if your loud voice attracts the guards, the king will be in trouble you know?」

「Uuu~ Your Highness, I’m sorry.」

After being cautioned by Roury, Arezel apologizes again with a disheartened expression.

「A-A~a, You don’t need to worry that much. I will feel bad as it’s because of my actions that you make that face.」

After saying that, the king pets Arezel's head. Arezel who feels ticklish narrows her eyes.

「So, what do you need? You came here in person, there's no way that’s the only reason right?」

「You don’t change in any situation, do you… but, it’s just like what you said, I’m here to apologize to Dina-sama. I apologize for the rude thing my subordinate said to you.」

The king lowers his head. Everyone is surprised from his action that can be considered a serious matter if done outside of that room.

「P-Please don’t worry. You already apologized during the audience, that’s enough.」

Hearing to that, the king raises his head, but his expression is serious.

「No, that time, I apologized as a king. Please let me apologize as my own person now, as Agradia.」

Like that, he lowers his head again.

「You…… Agradia is your name?」

Rather than the king lowering his head, Souta is more interested with the name of the king.

「Eh, A~a, that’s right. I also want to apologize to Souta-dono and the others…… I’m really sorry.」

Souta absentmindedly looks at Agradia, who is lowering his head.

「It’s just like what Narasu said before you came here. If it’s Agradia that became the king, it shouldn’t be bad.」

「Isn’t it.」

「I agree.」

「Right.」

「Yep yep.」

The other four nod, agreeing with Souta.

「D-Did I do something?」

Puzzled, he blurts out such words to Souta and the others’ conversation.

「No, we're only saying that you’re a good person.」

「I-I see. In that case, thank you for your word, wait, is that fine?」

Watching Agradia who says his grat.i.tude while still puzzled, everyone can’t suppress their laughter as they find him amusing.

「Hahaha, as I thought, you’re really interesting. You don’t have to apologize anymore, and also, I'll receive the dagger. Instead, as a proof of friends.h.i.+p, I will give you this……..」

After receiving the dagger, Souta looks around his magic bag, and then takes out the seedlings of Iyas.h.i.+ trees.

「Let’s do this. With this and this holy water, you can increase the yield of Iyas.h.i.+ trees. After planting the seedling, just give it a few drops of this holy water.」

Souta takes out a dozen seedlings and a bottle of holy water, and then hand them to Agradia.

Agradia’s jaw drops as he looks at them wide-eyed.

「If my conjecture is right, the Iyas.h.i.+ trees right now are the trees planted with the seedlings from the trees whose leaves were mostly taken, right? Considering the supply volume is considerably low, the seeds seem to be low quality ones.」

「You know your stuff well. You’re right, the Iyas.h.i.+ trees right now come from weak seeds. The amount of leaves per tree is also low, so the distribution volume was inevitably reduced.」

「So it really is the case, I thought it’s really strange that Iyas.h.i.+ tree leaves, which the original trees produce ma.s.sively, are sold with that extraordinary price.」

Answered by Narasu instead, Souta nods.

「Agradia … Oi, Agradia!」

After being called the second time, Agradia regains himself.

「Wha-What is it?」

Why did you call? What is this sapling? The question he asks to Souta has these two meanings.

「This, is the seedling of the original Iyas.h.i.+ tree, not the weak one you have now. With this, I guess it will help restore the number of leaves per Iyas.h.i.+ trees in the future…… Right, Dina?」

「R-Really?」

Agradia looks back and forth between the seedling, Souta’s face, and Dina’s face.

「It’s true, this is a seedling from a thousand years ago that I gave to Souta-san. If it helps solve the problem, then please use it.」

Dina adds to Souta’s words. She says that without hesitation, as if she understands perfectly Souta’s aim.

「Thank you, Souta-dono. Thank you, Dina-sama.」

Agradia then places the seedling to the side, and then lowers his head deeply, to the extent that his forehead might touch the floor.

The problem with Iyas.h.i.+ tree leaves is the root of the Elves’ racial discrimination. Agradia hopes that by solving this problem, it will become a huge step toward the normalization of diplomatic relations with other countries.

「You don’t need to lower your head this much…… More than that, we need you to inform the guards and the gatekeepers so we can use this dagger.」

「Of course! It is no exaggeration to say that you’re the savior of the country. I will make sure your travel in this country will happen without any inconvenience.」

Agradia raises his head and then declares strongly with a deep nod.

t/n: late again, I probably should change the blog name into “The Late Rhea”

make you wonder why Souta don’t just sell one leaf to buy the mansion right? well, it doesn’t matter, not like what he did was wrong, questionable at best

quick reminder: we need Ed……

also a little advice from me as an avid reader, not me as a translator:

never insult the author because of lore/story inconsistency or plot hole, pointing it out is fine (it might be translator’s fault anyway), complaining -as long as you do it directly to the author- is also fine, but insulting right away without giving the author a chance to explain is just like complaining why the culprit of the mystery novel is not revealed some pages after the case happen, absurd right? well it’s freedom of speech alright, so in the end, this is just an advice, not rule