“Touya.” Olga walked over to me. Her foxy ears and tail combo were alluring as ever. Inappropriate thoughts danced around in my mind... I need to touch the fluffy tail... Which is softer, her fur or Kohaku?
“I need you to know that you have my deepest gratitude. Not only did you save His Majesty, you also saved the Kingdom of Mismede. Should you ever visit our fair kingdom, I assure you that you will receive a warm welcome.”
Olga bowed her head to me. No, darn it. I don’t want to impose any more! I don’t want to stand out, either...
“How’s Arma? She holding up well?”
“She’s doing very well, thank you. If I’d known you were coming here today, I’d have brought her with me, actually.” Olga laughed wryly, but she suddenly froze up and stared at something behind me. Puzzled at what was wrong, I turned and saw that she was staring right at Kohaku.
“...Touya, what is that?”
“Oh, this is Kohaku, a little tiger cub that I’m looking after. Wanna say hi to the lady, Kohaku?”
“Rawr!” We had decided that for the sake of simplicity, Kohaku should just pretend to be a regular tiger cub. Having a talking tiger walking around with us would be way too much of a spectacle. Also, explaining it to everyone all the time would get old super fast.
Olga continued to stare suspiciously at Kohaku, narrowing her eyes and tilting her head slightly.
“Is there something wrong?”
“Ah, it’s nothing. It’s just that in Mismede, the White Tiger is seen as a heavenly messenger from God. They say that the White Monarch itself is a member of the White Tiger species.” Forget the species, Kohaku’s the real deal... Come to think of it, Yumina did mention something about Kohaku being the King of Beasts... I wondered whether or not it’d be a good idea to take that tiger to Mismede.
Suddenly, a shock ran through my body. Someone had smacked me hard on the back. It was General Leon. Can this guy only communicate through hitting people or something?!
“It’s been a while, Touya my boy! Bwaha, I never expected you to get married to the little princess! You really are an interesting man, aren’t you?! I thought perhaps we could spar together sometime!”
“I’m not her husband yet, so I’ll refuse, thanks.” I felt like if I trained with that guy my body would splinter into pieces before it got any stronger. After all, he was the kind of guy who smacked you around as a way of saying hello. That being said, he was definitely not a bad person...
Wait a second... I noticed a pair of copper-brown gauntlets hanging from the general’s waist. They didn’t seem particularly flashy or ornamental, but for some reason they emanated the feeling of courage and bravery.
“General, what’re those?”
“Hm? Ah, I have these on me because there’s a military exercise going on today. I’m a fighter! Gauntlet fighter, to be precise. Haven’t you heard of me...? They call me Fire Fist Leon!”
Sadly, I hadn’t heard of him at all. I hadn’t heard anyone talk about him, either. However, in stark contrast to my stunned silence, someone behind me suddenly spoke up in an excited voice.
“Whoa!!! I’ve heard about you! You’re that flaming fist guy who wiped out a whole bandit camp all on his own in the Melicia Mountains, right?! I’ve heard all kinds of stuff... Is it true you had a duel to the death with a Stone Golem?!”
“Ohoho, you sure know your stuff, don’t you? Are you a fighter too? It’s rare to see a girl take up the art of fisticuffs!”
The general smiled broadly as he looked over at the excited Elze, noting the mismatched gauntlets hanging from her waist.
“How about it, would you like to take part in today’s military training?”
“Wh-What, can I?!” Elze nodded her head over and over, a beaming smile plastered on her face. It’d be good for her to learn more techniques from him, I supposed. As I looked at Elze and Leon, the king beckoned me over to him.
“By the way, Touya... in regards to the noble title I wanted to grant...”
“Ahh, listen... I appreciate the offer and all, but...” I felt bad for the king, but I still had to refuse him. I really didn’t feel like being a nobleman, at least not for the time being.
“In truth, I fully expected you to decline. It’s just that it would’ve reflected poorly upon me if I, the king, had not offered a most generous reward to the man that saved his life. So in this case I just needed to create the known situation of ‘he tried to grant a title to his savior, but the boy graciously refused.’ That being said, if you had accepted the title it would have been yours to take.” Well, that’s royalty for you. You really had to keep an eye on everything you were doing, down to the smallest detail... Looked like for the king, appearance was king. Just as I was feeling sorry for the king, someone suddenly burst through the door to the room.
“I HEARD TOUYA WAS HERE, WHERE IS HE?!” It was Charlotte, the court magician. I almost didn’t recognize her for a moment. Honestly, she looked totally different this time around. She had heavy bags under her eyes, and her hair was all frizzed out and disheveled. As she suddenly started marching toward me, I noticed that the eyes behind her glasses were bloodshot. Agh! What the heck is going on? She’s scaring me! As if to prevent my escape, she seized me by the coat with one hand, and held out several silver coins and drinking glasses with her other hand.
“H-Hey! These glasses, I need more! Th-Three pairs more of them, yes! I taught you [Transfer] the other day, so help me out, okay?!”
“H-Huh? I mean, you did help me the other day, but what’s this about glasses?!” Despite being terrified of Charlotte’s looks, I managed to sputter out what I wanted to ask.
“What do you mean by that?! I can’t decipher fast enough...! I’m at my limit, right?! I can’t do it all alone! It’s impossible, impossible I tell you! I figure out what one thing says but there’s always more to decipher. It’s never-ending! Do you even know how much work I have to do?! Do you even know how much work I have to do?!” Why the repetition? Is she a broken record?! She didn’t have to scream at me like that while she was trying to ask for help... Still, I was way too freaked out to try and refuse, so I went ahead and cast both [Modeling] and [Enchant] in quick succession, turning those coins and drinking glasses into translation glasses in no time at all.
“Thank you so very much!” Charlotte quickly snatched up the glasses I made and, her business concluded, looked about ready to shoot out of the room as quickly as she had entered.
“Just be sure to keep things composed and well-handled, Charlotte. We don’t want word of this spreading to the Empire, do we?”
“Understood, Your Highness!” Charlotte answered the king almost immediately and shot out of the room like a bullet. What just happened?
“Charlotte has been acting somewhat troubling, lately. Ever since she got that peculiar instrument, she’s been holed up in her quarters doing nothing but work. She’s going to end up wearing herself out at this rate! We may end up needing you to use [Recovery] on her soon enough, Touya.”
Oh dear lord, I’ve accidentally invented the shut-in character trait. The “gets obsessed with something and retreats from the world like a hermit” kind of person... Whoops.
“Just now... was that really Lady Charlotte, the court magician...?” Linze murmured quietly, staring at the door. Well, I’m not surprised by her reaction to that display. Charlotte certainly didn’t look like the greatest mage in the kingdom.
“Aww... I wanted to talk about magic with her...”
“Ooh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you! If you speak to Charlotte while she’s in this state, she’ll have you spend half the day aiding her wild experiments, and the other half of the day listening to her lecture on Ancient Spirit Magic! Better to wait until she’s calmed down a bit.” The general shook his head side to side as he spoke. Yeah, I doubt she’d be receptive to anything said by anyone while she’s in this state...
“Well then, it’s time to prepare for the ceremony! You’ll need to slip into a more app
ropriate set of clothes, Touya my boy!” The king clapped his hands and, as if on command, two maids appeared. Darn it... what a drag.
“Linze, Yae. What’re you two gonna do? Wait here for me?”
“I think I’ll go and watch Elze spar...”
“I will do that too, I will!” Guess everyone except Yumina’s going to the training session, then... Looks like Yumina’s looking after Kohaku, too. Well, guess I’ll just get changed as fast as I can.
A maid escorted me to a private room, where I changed into a fresh set of clothes.
◇ ◇ ◇
...Somehow, I got a house...
Before I knew it, I’d accepted a property and that was that, I guess. You might be wondering who in their right mind gave me a house. Well, it was the king.
On the day of my nobility ceremony, things were going exactly as planned.
“Oh great adventurer who saved my very life, allow me to bestow upon you a noble title.”
“I’m unworthy, Your Majesty. I was merely doing what an adventurer should.”
“Very well, I won’t force this upon you if you truly wish to decline.” Up until that point, everything was going as planned.
“That said, allowing the one who saved my life to return empty-handed would be a great discourtesy. Therefore, in place of entering you into the ranks of nobility, I have prepared a reward sum in addition to a mansion that I might hope should serve as your base of operations amidst your many adventures.”
“What.” As the king spoke, an elderly man stepped forward. He was holding a silver platter with a bag of money and a set of keys upon it. Distracted by the king’s words, I absentmindedly accepted the items without even thinking.
I snapped to my senses when I felt the weight of the bag in my hands, but the elderly fellow had already backed off! Drat... missed my chance to give them back.
“This was but a display to keep up appearances. I wait with eager anticipation to see what you might accomplish in the days to come.” I couldn’t help but give up at this point...
“Western district... Palaran Avenue, 2A... Even the outer ring of the district is gaudy...” Yumina murmured as she checked over the documentation.
The capital was divided into two rings, one outer and one inner, both of which circled the castle. Royalty, aristocrats, important merchants, and people of high status tended to live in the inner circle around the castle, and then the outer circle was across the river.
Many people from different walks of live lived in the outer circle, and it was further divided into eastern, western, and southern wards. There was no northern ward, as Lake Palette took up the space in that area. It seemed that the western sector of the outer district was where many affluent people lived. It was in this western sector that my new property was waiting for me.
“So, now what?” After washing off the sweat she had worked up from the day’s training with the general, Elze asked me that with apparent curiosity in her eyes. Honestly, it was all a bit too much for someone of my stature.
“I guess giving it back isn’t even an option.”
“Returning something you’ve already accepted is very, very rude. It hurts the honor of the one that gave you it.” True enough. No decent person would ever take a gift and then go “nah, I don’t like it, keep it.” Linze was completely right. I had no choice but to accept it.
I laid myself out on the grass in the corner of the castle’s training grounds. White clouds were gently flowing through the clear blue sky. It was reminiscent of the sky I saw when I first came to this world.
“It’s not just the property, either. I also got a lot of money... I actually have no idea what to do with it all.”
“How much did you receive, Touya-dono?” Yae looked down at me as I continued to relax.
“...Twenty royal coins.”
“Twenty royal coins?!” Elze, Linze, and Yae’s voices spectacularly rang out and resonated. Their surprise was completely reasonable.
Royal coins were a currency with more value than platinum. Ten times more, to be exact. I heard they were too big of a currency to see much use in standard marketplaces.
By the standards of the world I once inhabited, a royal coin would be approximately ten million yen. So, the amount I got was about two hundred million. Basically, that money, plus the house, was the value of the king’s life. I couldn’t even tell if that was a lot. Apparently, this was merely the king’s pocket change. Should’ve asked why he was saving it...
Wait, what if it was all just betrothal money? What if taking all this meant that I was locked into marrying Yumina? Though, shouldn’t betrothal money go from the groom to the bride, and not the other way around? Maybe this was a dowry and... Man, it was a pain to think about.
Whatever the case, keeping the money on my person was scary, so I let the duke hold onto it.
“Anyway, I got a house now, so maybe I should just retire?”
“Doing that would turn you into a failure of a person in no time...” Elze sighed, and instead of a reply, I raised my upper body. Having money meant not having to work? There was something off about that. Not like having money would ever be a problem, though...
“How about we go and take a look at it? It’s only about thirty minutes away.” We had no reason to refuse Yumina’s proposal, so we gathered ourselves and went to take a look at the place.
“Hm? It’s here...?” I couldn’t hold myself back from saying that.
The residence stood on elevated ground in the western ward of the outer district, looking like it had a great view of the horizon. Walls painted white and a red roof... A refined, three story western-style building... That was all fine and dandy. I had nothing negative to say about the design, and I quite liked that it was in a quiet place, away from the residential areas. Still...
“This is way too huge...” Well, it was smaller than Duke Ortlinde’s or Viscount Swordrick’s homes. However, it was still more than large enough to fit people of such high stature.
I used my key to open the gates and entered the grounds. What came into view before my eyes was a large lawn, a flower bed with all kinds of vivid flora, and a pond with a small fountain inside it. Further off in the distance, I even saw a stable.
We opened the double door and walked into the entrance hall. What greeted us was a crimson carpet and a stairway leading to the second floor.
“This is quite a nice house. I like it.” With Kohaku in her arms, Yumina — the only one of us who was used to such environments — calmly walked into the hall. After catching up to her, I couldn’t help but let my honest thoughts turn to voice.
“A house this large will be a pain to clean... even with the five of us living here.”
“What?!” Elze, Linze and Yae looked at me, completely flabbergasted. I had no idea why.
“Uhm... Touya-dono. Five? Are we to live here as well? Are we?”
“Huh? Why would you even have to ask? It’s only natural, right?” Why did we even have to talk about it, anyway? With a house this large, taking in as many reliable people as possible was only natural. As that thought ran through my mind, Elze timidly spoke up.
“B-But this house was given to you by the king. Isn’t it for you to share with Yumina?” Well, I suddenly understood everything. This house was the king’s way of helping Yumina out on her endeavor. Seems I accepted quite the troublesome gift...
I didn’t hate Yumina or anything, but I couldn’t see her as someone I’d marry. So far, she felt more like a little sister to me than anything.
Linze quietly spoke to me once again.
“I-If it’s a house meant for two people who like each other, I don’t think we should be living here...”
“Like each other? I like each of you as much as the other. You’re all family to me, so there’s absolutely nothing wrong with you living he—” Hm? Linze’s face was kind of red. Why? Actually, Elze and Yae were looking a bit pink, too.
“I-I’ll look around the second floor!”
“M-Me too! I-I’ll look at the attic!”
“I-I-I’m interested in the kitchen, I am!” The three of them scattered in all directions. Why?
“I see... So you like the four us about the same and see us as family. I’d say I got one step closer.” Seeing them off, Yumina smiled.
“I want to become your wife and spend my life with you, Touya. However, I don’t intend to monopolize you, so I don’t mind this arrangement at all. I’m going to have a talk with them. You just wait in the living room.” Huh? What? Excuse me? Leaving me with Kohaku, Yumina began walking up the stairs.
I didn’t really get the situation, but I decided to do as I was told and walked toward the living room. On the way, I looked at the bathroom, parlor, granary, and the wine cellar, and they were all completely empty. Not a single shelf...
I opened the second to last door on the first floor and finally found the living room. As obvious as it might’ve been — it was huge. Though, it probably felt bigger than it was because it had nothing but the fireplace and the curtains. I’ll have to buy lots of furniture and other stuff. The king probably considered that when he gave me the money.
The window on one of the walls had an entrance to a terrace that gave a great view of the estate’s territory and the rest of the western ward.
I walked out into the garden, where I was greeted by a comfortable wind.
“It’s a nice garden. Naptime here would feel great.” Kohaku spread out on the grass.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes. Very much so.” All the more reason to consider living here, I figured. Settling in would be quite troublesome, but...
“Touya.” Hearing my name called out, I turned around to see Yumina standing there with all the others. However, the other three were avoiding my gaze. What’s with them? Their faces are still kinda red, too...
In Another World With My Smartphone: Volume 2 Page 4