Vol 2 Chapter 5 (1/2)

Chapter 5

Volume 2

Chapter 5

After I calmed Princess down, we left the Royal Villa together in order to return back to the waiting room where Hero-sama is asked to wait. Then there was a message from His Majesty. It seems that we are ordered to be present at the audience room.

「Perhaps it’s the audience for certifying if Hero-sama is the real one desuno?」(Filseria)

As Princess sent a sidelong glance at the messenger who was taking his leave, she said this while tilting her head to the side. We looked at each other face, before walking towards the audience room.

When the request for an audience arrived, it seemed that His Majesty was having a Royal Conference. His Majesty who received the report was about to suspend the conference for the audience. However, some of the n.o.ble ministers opposed.

「Even if he had saved Filseria-sama, the unidentified self-proclaimed Hero is extremely suspicious.」(Minister)

This was the opposing faction’s objection. Even a King, well, because it’s a Kingdom, couldn’t disregard the ministers’ opinion.

I had just heard about this situation from Ain-sama at the lesson this morning. He had slipped out from a conference he should have partic.i.p.ate for a moment and then told us about this.

「In the capital, it has been dozens of years since a person who pretends to be Hero-sama’s descendant appeared, desuno. Much less, someone who admitted to be the Hero-sama himself…… I think the ministers are thinking too much, desuno.」(Filseria)

While heading toward the audience room, Princess was a bit bad mood.

But I was the one who asked him, 「Are you perhaps, Hero-sama himself?」. Then, the Earth Orb that he presented in lieu as his identification card. As a test, they had tried to play it in a terminal borrowed from a n.o.ble, but the terminal couldn’t play it. The exclusive terminal of for Royal Family should be able to play it, but the needed mana collation pattern to play it was different.

He was someone with a peculiar air around him, that might make someone thought that he is the real Hero. But under such uncertain situation, it was inevitable that there was an opposition for that suspicious person to meet with this country leaders.

As expected, there was no one who claimed themselves as the Hero-sama himself, but at the countryside, even now at times, there were people who proclaimed, 「I am a Hero’s descendant」. The reason for this was because this t.i.tle bestowed them a positive image.

Even though things like strength would depend on the person own nature, just by attaching descendant to their t.i.tle, they would appear to be strong.

On their personality too, it was easy to think them as a good person just like the Hero who saved the world.

If that person’s job is a hunter, then he would appear to be someone who could be entrusted with works.

The Royal Family had formally announced that 「Hero has no children.」Since the Hero defeat the Demon Lord at the cost of his life, he didn’t return alive and get married. However, even though polygamy system had been abolished, n.o.ble’s non-legal child or illegitimate child were common, so it was hard to say how credible such announcement is. Since there was a saying, “Great men have a great fondness for the sensual pleasures”.*grumble*grumble*grumble*

Even though it was easy if the crime column on the status card could indicate, “Hero’s Descendant Imposter”, such crime was not

displayed.

Since the Card didn’t display family lineage, the self-proclaimed Hero’s descendants never disappear.

「If I remember it clearly, there should be a person who called himself the Hero’s descendant came to a n.o.ble’s house, who then asked about it to the Royal Family, right?」(Mira)

Perhaps the n.o.ble thought that the Hero did had a non-legal child or illegitimate child, but then it means that he didn’t believe in the Royal Family’s formal announcement. Maybe if the Hero’s descendant was really the real one, then the n.o.ble wanted to employ him?

「Yes. The information about Hero-sama had been left inside the Orb bequeathed by the Her Majesty the Founding Queen. But that Orb is in the room where only the King is permitted to enter, so I never heard the content, desuno.」(Filseria)

「Then, what was His Majesty’s personal answer to that question?」(Mira)

「Without any hesitation, His Majesty answered that he is a fake, desuno.」(Filseria)

Princess made a deep nod.

To ask a question to His Majesty, someone with high ranked n.o.ble could quickly obtain the answer. Since the legal procedures were shorter for them.

Even at a territory far from the Royal Capital, the n.o.bles could employ Magician who can use communication type magic or possess the communication type magic tool, so distance was not a problem.

「But, for a town or village which would take time to ask a question to the Royal Family, they are easy target for the self-proclaimed Hero’s descendant, right?」(Mira)

Until the local lord had asked the Capital, depending on the means of communication and various procedures, it could take one month at the worst. If they had a difficult situation with bandits or monster then they couldn’t help but to wait for one month.

It will be fine if the one who called themselves Hero’s descendant was strong, but if the person themselves was troublesome one, then it could be a major problem.

「If you check the reference books then it will be clear, but information about Hero-sama’s didn’t pa.s.sed down that much in the citizen.」(Filseria)

Like about how he uses shadow magic, or how he was called Vil by his comrades ―― Flaruca-sama and Thor-sama. Though Hero-sama’s real name didn’t get pa.s.sed down. There was no doubt that the Royal Family and Hero-sama purposefully concealed this information.

「Because of that, we could judge whether or not he is the real one, just by asking his name, desuno.」(Filseria)

「Though there is a possibility that they could be correct by chance by saying a name that could be a.s.sociated with the nickname Vil.」(Mira)

But this was quite a gambling.

Other than His Majesty the King, no one know if Hero-sama came from n.o.bility or commoner background. However, the fools, who believe that they could skillfully carry out their acts, will pretend to be the descendant. Then if possible, became employed by a n.o.ble.

The fools will name the Hero as their ancestor, and if they were asked about Hero-sama’s appearance or personality, they would gave vague answers, that he was strong, handsome, wise, ―― etcetera, and drag it out indefinitely. But strong and handsome…… I think this is already the basic template for a brand called “Hero”. Or rather, if he didn’t strong then he won’t be able to defeat the Demon Lord. There is no real need for him to be handsome, but this might be what is called: idealization.

If that man really the real Hero-sama, then it looks like “being handsome” is not a complete lie.

If someone introduced himself Hero’s descendant to a n.o.ble who then asked about it to His Majesty, he would be punished as an imposter. Since he was swindling to get into the n.o.ble’s purse even without any n.o.ble connection, the punishment was justified. The imposter would only get the ill reputation in the village, but that brand’s influence was scary.

「I had heard that at provincial town and village, there are many imposters appeared. Does it also happened in Mira’s village, desuno?」(Filseria)

「There is. When I had a vague memory of that day since I was still very small but I heard the story from the adults.」(Mira)

「Please, tell me desuno.」(Filseria)

「Alright. Umm, certainly……」(Mira)

As we walked forward, I remembered those days.

「When I was much younger than now, before the autumn harvest, two monster-transformed boars appeared. But the villagers only able to handle one boar at a time. If they force themselves to counter both of them, then there might be injured people and then they wouldn’t be able to do the autumn harvest. They also couldn’t restrain the boars with half-baked snares. Then an active Hunter that called himself Hero’s descendant arrived at the village.」(Mira)

「That person is a fake, right desuno?」(Filseria)

I nodded and continued my story.

「Since they don’t have time to wait for the Hunter requested to the guild to arrive, so they consulted with him and he said 『Let’s hurry. We could conduct the negotiation afterward』, and halfway-forcibly accepted the monster eradication as direct request. The Village Chief believed the man who called himself Hero’s descendant and have no other choice but entrust it to him.」(Mira)

「A direct request, if I’m not mistaken, is a request that is not through the Hunter Guild, right? I heard that it easy to become a quarrel, desuno.」(Filseria)

「The quarrels will be mainly about the rewards, and at that time too, there was a quarrel. In the end, there were three monsters, so the Hero’s descendant demanded double reward as a trouble fee for the lack of information. Even though, the adults had told him that there is a possibility that there are more than two.」(Mira)

「Since they had notified him beforehand, then there shouldn’t be any problem, desuno?」(Filseria)

But it was useless. This is the demerit of a direct request. When there a discord appeared, there was no mediator.

「Apart from the trouble fee, the village needed to pay the reward for the defeated third monster. On the other hand, the village didn’t have enough saving to pay the demanded money. That’s why they presented the wheat and vegetable for the land tax, but he said, “Are you looking down on me?”.」(Mira)

「Why he did that, desuno? Even though they were not avoiding to pay him the reward.」(Filseria)

「When listened to his demand, I wonder which one who was looking down at the other party. Instead of money, that man demanded alcohol in exchange. Also, women who will pour it.」(Mira)

Princess opened her mouth wide, then when she realized this, she quickly closed it. Yeah…… That’s a normal response.

「The fake don’t have a low rank as a Hunter, but is a poorly behaved lowlife who has cravings for free alcohol and young beautiful women to wait for him.」(Mira)

There was part that I had left out. Actually, the man said, 「If you don’t have money to pay then give me alcohol」, furthermore 「Bring out the most beautiful girl in the village to pour out the alcohol. Also, bring along every young girls」. What a trash. Those kind of lines were something that Princess should have heard. That’s why I omitted it.

The village chief seemed to be pallid at the man’s demand. At the time when I heard that story, I believed the adult’s words that they were worried that the drunk Hunter could be violent towards the girls. However, now I understood the true implications of that demand.

If nothing were done, then the girls could be violated.

Just like the adults obscuring that part, I continued the story with the concern of the violence as the main topic.

「The villagers couldn’t best a Hunter who could kill three monsters, but they also didn’t want their daughters to be at risk, so each house gathered their alcohol. A drink with strong alcohol content mixed in that will certainly cause drunkenness. In other words, before something happens, make him drunk into oblivion.」(Mira)

If his legs and loins couldn’t stand up, no matter how strong a man is, they couldn’t be violent, right?

「The afraid girls presented small amount of dishes and then poured the alcohol one after another…… And the man successfully drunk to oblivion.」(Mira)

Perhaps because Princess was relieved, she let out a sigh.

「Afterwards, the girls hidden themselves and the next morning as the contract had been finished, the hangover self-proclaimed hero was chased out from the village by the village youths.」(Mira)

「What an awful occurrence. If only there is a better simple way to prevent the hero imposters appearance, desuno.」(Filseria)

「There is a way.」(Mira)

When I said this nonchalantly to the troubled Princess, she made a surprised face.

「The way to prevent the hero imposters, will be to officially recognize that man as a Hero, made a picture of him, and then disseminate it to the entire country.」(Mira)

Princess stared at me while tilted her head in confusion.

「How can this become a prevention for hero imposters?」(Filseria)

「After all, they will have to call themselves as the descendants of the owner of that handsome face, you know?」(Mira)

「…… Mira, you such a tease.」(Filseria)

Princess understood what I wanted to say, put her hand to her mouth and broke out a giggle. No matter how thick the skin of their face is, how could they have a nerve to call themselves as the descendant of someone who possessed such amazing looks? Of course, they won’t. Even if they were distant descendants, they wouldn’t like to be compared with the Hero.

Now then, the man in question, the one who called himself as the Hero, desired an audience with the king. Just by hearing his name and his features, His Majesty consented for an audience. In other words, he matched with the Hero-sama’s information that had been inherited by the Royal Family.

However, the n.o.bles never saw or heard the information about Hero-sama. The Royal Family had curtly kicked out any self-proclaimed Hero’s descendant until now, so they were baffled about the audience with a man who called himself as the Hero.

But if he was an imposter, not only the name, but how he achieved his looks? Was it a plastic surgery? Illusion magic? Then how he learned Shadow Magic? It would be strange if the one who called himself as the true Hero couldn’t use it.

Together with Gai, who we met in front of the audience room, we entered from the pa.s.sage normally used by the Royal Family. The Hero would enter the room formally through the grand door at audience room’s other end.

How many times had I been in the audience room personally? The Royal Guards stood at both the sides of the throne to protect the Royal Family. At the opposite direction, there were the ministers and then the grand door where Knights stood on its right and left.

A very strict security. A formal occasion would be always arranged in such his manner.

「Seria, please sit here with Mira-san and Gai-kun.」(Ain)

「Onii-sama.」(Filseria)

「Ain-sama.」(Mira)

As guided by Ain-sama, I sat at the seat beside Ain-sama.

「First, Grandfatherosofu-sama[1] will express the words of grat.i.tude for saving Seria and Mira-san from the kidnappers. Then both of you will stand and bow your head down to express your grat.i.tude.」(Ain)

「Yes, onii-sama.」(Filseria)

「I understand.」(Mira)

「Me too. I also want to express my thanks- umm, grat.i.tude for saving Mira. I want to say it to him when waiting for Mira and Princess earlier, but for some reason, Swyn-san and that Hero-niichan were always silent, so it was hard to speak and I end up couldn’t say my thank- grat.i.tude. Somehow it made me really thirsty. Since the Maid-san frequently remaking the tea, I lost count how many cups I ended up drinking.」[2](Gai)

Gai bent himself forward and complained with a strange way of talking, so Ain-sama smiled.

「Yes. I thought that you also want to say it that I call you to this place. Are you fine right now? Do you feel nervous?」(Ain)

Gai who heard that words, smiled in a flash and nodded.

「I’m oka- I am alright.」(Gai)

It seems that he implemented the promise to be careful with his way of speaking in formal occasions.

However, a silent atmosphere that even an airK-－illiterateY Gai find himself difficult to speak up…… just what kind of situation it was?

Swyn-san is a n.o.ble, but I believe his ambiance feels like a fairly friendly Onii-san. I don’t know about his sociability, but when talking with Hero-sama in the Guards’ Station, he had expressed grat.i.tude for our case. Therefore, he won’t change his att.i.tude that simply like flipping the palm of his hand.

Then, perhaps the problem lies in Hero-sama? Like it or not, even Gai called him 『Hero-niichan』. Then won’t that means that Gai was quite emotionally attached to him?

Then how could that silent situation happen? If he got that emotionally attached to the Hero, why they didn’t have any conversation? Won’t a silent tea part was something that you want to escape from at any rate?

Hm? Gai said that the tea was frequently remade, right? Did by any chance, the maid-san was taking turns and came to do a Hero-sama’s inspection trip? As expected, even Gai could felt the maid-san’s gaze towards to the other side and the ambiance of Hero-sama who ignored them, so to escape from such atmosphere he kept drinking his tea? He himself might not realize it, though.

…… I felt sorry for Gai and Swyn-san, but I am glad that I went to the bath. A tea party where those kind amorous glance and sullenness jumbled together, sorry, but I don’t want to partic.i.p.ate in it.

「Don’t worry. Since His Majesty has brought forth a final measure.」(Ain)

It seemed that he thought that my sigh of relief was due to my anxiousness of whether or not the Hero-sama would be accepted. Ain-sama took my hand and then smiled widely.

「Final measure?」(Mira)

His words might be due to a misunderstanding, but I became interested and parroted the words back to him. However, before that question was answered, it was interrupted by the sound of the grand door opening. Ain-sama let go of my hand and then turned to look forward.

At the other side of the opened door, there was Hero-sama. His standing figure was so majestic that even felt like the appearance of a king. The audience room was wrapped in silence, the tension was such that even a sound of falling needle could be heard loudly. Under such situation, he began to walk forward.

His footsteps resounded in the room.

From somewhere there was a sigh spilled out.

He walked until midway and then he stopped walking.

「Such impoliteness. You are in front of His Majesty, knee-……」(King)

「That’s enough.」(n.o.ble)

His Majesty raised his hand to check back the n.o.ble’s words.

「If this person is really the Hero from 800 years ago, then there is no need for him to show his allegiance to me.」(King)

「However……」(n.o.ble)

His Majesty took an Earth Orb that was placed at the table beside him and the n.o.ble kept his mouth shut. He might be thought that if this person was a self-proclaimed hero then it would be fine for him to be imprisoned for lese majeste.

「Is that the final measure?」(Mira)

「That’s correct.」(Ain)

I asked whisperingly and Ain-sama answered me.

「In the coronation room that couldn’t be entered other than the King, amongst the Orbs preserved at that place, there is a single Queen’s...o...b..that could only be permitted to be heard by the King.」(Arvile)

「Will this be fine, to show it in the open like this?」(Mira)

Perhaps it contained the information about Hero that had been left by the Her Majesty the Founder Queen. Something that had been hidden before was now being revealed. So that means, they wouldn’t be able to judge if someone was a real Hero just by asking their name after this.

「His Majesty said that this is to persuade the n.o.bles. Of course, he has sent out a gag order to not tell his name to anyone.」(Ain)

So it means that His Majesty wanted to hide it. He was the real thing.

However, if someone broke that gag order, then what will he do? A secret that couldn’t be told to others, unexpectedly made someone want to talk “keep this a secret” to their acquaintances. Perhaps this would be alright in a world where King’s order was absolute?

「First, as a grandfather please let me express my grat.i.tude for saving my granddaughter and her friend from a danger.」(King)

When His Majesty uttered this, he looked towards us, at this cue Princess stood up without causing any sound. Gai and I too followed her and stood up while carefully not making a sound from our chair.

Together with Princess who made an elegant light bow, we deeply bowed our head. Then when Princess raised her head, we also raised our head. Seeing His Majesty made a light nod, Princess sat down. We also sat down.

「Then as a King. I want to ask your name once more.」(King)

「Arvile Westin.」(Arvile)

The people in the room because noisy and their eyes poured down at the Orb in His Majesty’s hand. His Majesty gently placed the Orb in the cavity on the device beside him. And suddenly, there were complex curved lights came out from the Orb.

(A three dimensional magic circle? Though, it was so complicated that I couldn’t read it)

At the light that was about 50 centimeters tall, there was a weak glittering image of a young woman. Her age was about 24 or 25. Her silver hair had been put into a single bun and she wore a simple refined blue dress. She vaguely looked like Princess. Or rather, it was Princess who resembled her.

「Her Majesty the Queen……」

「Flaruca-sama.」

The woman’s name leaked out from the people’s mouth. The appearance was similar like to young Flaruca-sama portrait that had been inherited for generations.

『How do you do, my children. I am glad that the blood of my husband and myself could continue without end. This might be sudden, but I want to impart the information about Hero to you, my children. Actually……』

The Queen greeted with such affection-filled smile, but then it made an abrupt change into a mischievous one. Are, seeing her expression, somehow I felt a Déjà vu?[3]

『He is still alive. Surprised?』

Seeing her giggling appearance, I understand what Hero-sama means when he said, 「Someone who manipulated people around her.」 The audience room became noisy.

Un, I think everyone is surprised, Your Majesty the Queen. At your unexpected personality.

『Hm? Ah, I know, I know, Thor. I will tell them properly.』

It seemed that her husband Thor was beside her and said something. The Queen stopped her laugh and once again made an affection-filled smile.

『It is the truth that he is still alive. He is sleeping under the Yggurd Mountain. Then, if he awakened one day, there is something that I wanted to ask from our children, and so we left an Orb with him. That’s why children, no matter how many years and months had pa.s.sed, please warmly greeted him as our close friend. His name is Arvile Westin. He is man with a jet black hair and bluish purple eyes, his face is even more beautiful than a woman.』

I turned my sight towards Hero-sama who stood at the center of the room. Certainly, he has a beautiful face that won’t lose even to a woman.

『Actually it will be excellent if his appearance could be recorded in an Orb, but he is extremely sensitive to mana movement that interfered with the recording the moment an Orb turned towards him.』

The Queen seemed to want to say, what a pain, and shook her head.

『His personality is…… If he saw a kidnapper then he will immediately exterminate them. Even the Empire sanctioned slave store too, since most of them connected to illegal black market trade. Ah, I didn’t establish any slavery system, but if it exists currently then I want you to give him a proof that it is managed fairly and just. It will be unbearable if my close friend destroys the country I made, after all.』

What an extreme. Even a government sanctioned slave store too was exterminated. From the fleeting glances towards him, there were several n.o.bles who let out a sigh of relief.

(Thank goodness. Slavery isn’t practiced right now.)

Slavery was commonplace in a fantasy world, but the crime slaves in the Fimeria Kingdom is just simply called as prisoners and they are treated a bit different than normal slaves.

They are made to do forced labor in the prison, so they are not a slave owned by an individual, but controlled under the country’s law. That’s why if they properly served their sentence, then there is a mechanism to rehabilitate them back to the society. However, bandits will be immediately executed.

Other than bandits, people who injured a Royal family will also be executed. Of course, after they had been examined. In other words, after receiving a fierce investigation, that kidnapper would be executed.

By the way, there are no debt slaves.

People who went bankrupt from debt would have to part with everything they have and set them to pay the debt, then they will enter a government inst.i.tution. Their house will be only at the minimum area. Then they will perform work with various guilds or the country, then repay the present living cost to the country with their wage and work to build a saving.

After then debt to the country had been repaid, then they will leave the inst.i.tution. Since their salary had been deducted beforehand, they wouldn’t be able to swindle it. They also couldn’t just idle around. The people who don’t want to work will be chased out.

The tax wouldn’t be to support people with bad debtNEET. Then if they became a criminal then they will be ordered to perform forced labor, or if they fall far to become a bandit, then that’s the end.

By the way, even if the leftover a.s.sets couldn’t cover the debt, then the rest of them would be written off. The lender wouldn’t be able to pursue more than that. So they won’t lend money to people who couldn’t pay it back.

Perhaps it was a national character, there was hardly any people who would take a loan unreasonably, but in sickness or injury then there were people who loan here and there. Now let’s return to the main topic.

『If I have to say about Hero’s other characteristic…… Perhaps about he was strangely loved by animals? Even monster would put itself to submission and show it bellies to him.』

At the Queen’s statement, I tilted my hand in confusion. Do submission is equal to be loved? But isn’t in game-speak that was something like a monster tamer?

There were references that described when Thor-sama became the first guild master of the Hunters Guild, there was one demon wolf at his side. If Hero-sama is a tamer, then it might be something Thor-sama received from Hero-sama.

『Before we realized, a pack of demon wolf was following us, we had seen them when they were born as puppies. Hero didn’t do anything cruel to the wolf puppies who came to play and treat them like partner. Seeing this scene was really calming.』

I want to see that! I really do! Even a monster is cute when they are small.

(After arriving in the Royal Capital, I have fluffywuffymofumofu insufficiency, after all. Ah, I yearn for a fluffywuffymofumofu)

Surely Thor-sama’s demon wolf had been beside him since it was born, so it got emotionally attached to him and not because Hero-sama is a tamer. How envious.

『Incidentally I also petted them. That fluffywuffymofumofu is good.』

Flaruca-sama made a pleasant smile. On the other side, Hero-sama looked at Flaruca-sama’s projection with an exasperated expression.

『When we drop by in a village or a city, the adults will keep their distance from him, but the children who hadn’t learn fear will approach him. Since he is kind to children, his face would captivate widows or single girls who then approached him, but he was curt to them. He also doesn’t laugh at all. If he falls in love, then the world might change.』

(Eh, he does smile though?)

When I said that when expressing a grat.i.tude, race won’t matter, he laughed. Since it was such a precious scene, I remember it clearly.

I looked once more at Hero-sama and he squinted his eyes as if he looking at something unpleasant.

Change the topic, please change the topic. The Orb might get destroyed!

『That’s right. Speaking of children, far from a wife, he even doesn’t have a lover, he also doesn’t have any relative. So if someone who called themselves as his descendant, then without any doubt they are an imposter. If a self-proclaimed descendant appeared, just ask them his name, they wouldn’t be able to answer it. At that time, he was fundamentally unsocial that he never give his name to anyone, so we kind of getting overboard and called him “Hero”.』

(So it was just something went overboard?)

I unconsciously going to yell out my tsukkomi. Danger, danger. Even if it was just a projection, it will be bad if I tsukkomi Her Majesty the Founder Queen.

However if this true, then a shocking fact came to light. The lack of information wasn’t due to a countermeasure against imposters appearance in the future.

『If someone who called himself Arvile Westin appeared, then first his look. Then the Orb that I left with him could become the proof. However, I prohibit you to show it to other people. Since it’s a message for my dear friend that I don’t know when will he wake up.』

I could agree with that. For their private messages to be revealed to the public in the future, I felt sad for the great men of the past.

『Though it could be said as a subst.i.tute, I permit this...o...b..��s playback to be showed to other people other than King only for once. Since if his name and his characteristic leaked out then we can’t screen the hero imposters anymore, so only once. Only if there is not any mistake that he is the one, but there are people who oppose to receive him because he is a suspicious person, then I permit it.』

I see, so that’s why His Majesty played this...o...b.. Since the Queen had finished her explanation, the recording entered its final scenes.

『Then, I pray that my children and the country to have a long prosper and- hm? Something wrong, Thor?』

The closing words were cut short. From the s.p.a.ce where the Queen was looking at, a reddish blond man appeared. I had seen this person’s portrait before. It was Thor-sama.