5-6 The Outcome

In the end, the man we captured in the dungeon was killed before he said a single word.

A teleportation-magic user that valuable was a disposable pawn!?

According to the kingdom’s spies, the neighboring country’s army had been on the verge of mobilizing to coincide with the stampede—but once the stampede failed, they seemed to have temporarily stood down from a war footing.

As for those stones, every remaining piece was recovered and sent for research.

The goal of that research was to neutralize their effect.

Yeah—if they pull something like that again, we’re screwed.

His Majesty said the neighboring country probably hadn’t given up on invasion.

They had an insane appetite for expansion.

I mean, they apparently even called themselves an “Empire,” for crying out loud.

Also, in recognition of my accomplishments, I was granted SS-rank qualification.

To be approved, it required “an unquestionable, unanimous agreement—confirmed through direct questioning—by the king, the chancellor, the Adventurers’ Guild guildmaster and sub-guildmaster, and at least ten additional related parties who could testify before the king that extraordinary merit was rendered in a national crisis,” but it was accepted without fuss.

For now, among the living, I was the only person in the world with that title.

Normally it was an honorary title granted posthumously to a deceased S-rank, to praise years of service with respect.

And for someone truly exemplary—someone who had died an honorable death in the line of duty—they’d grant a two-rank “special promotion” and award SSS-rank.

The witnesses were the dungeon gate guards (since they never abandoned their post and fulfilled their duty at the risk of their lives, they were treated as knighted), the Adros guildmaster and staff, and the adventurers.

Also the leading figures of Adros, plus Mari and Antonio, and Lior-san and Berglit.

It was a little embarrassing, but… I was grateful to everyone.

That SS-rank came with an honorary marquis title attached.

Usually, that kind of one-generation honorary nobility was only granted if an adventurer entered official service to the kingdom, but what I received this time was a title of rights only—no obligations to the kingdom whatsoever.

There were similar one-generation honorary titles on Earth too, so it was probably something like that.

Of course, it wasn’t the meaning of “a fully formal noble with duties,” but rather “an honorary title that still granted you the treatment of a formal noble.”

If, by some chance, I rose one step higher to SSS-rank, I’d be given a special honorary duke title treated as a bloodline duke.

In other words, I’d be treated like honorary royalty.

There were also dukes who were subjects—men elevated by immense achievements—but SSS-rank meant honorary royalty treatment.

They also wanted to bring superior blood into the royal line.

In that case, they would apparently desire a marriage to a royal woman, and if you accepted that marriage, you would become the holder of a real, non-temporary duke title.

After that, I’d be treated no differently from a genuine high-ranking marquis of the kingdom.

Here, excluding royal dukes, it was basically the highest noble rank.

Well, it was a special status only given to people who had “prepaid their obligations,” so apparently it caused no problems.

Even the fussy nobles wouldn’t complain about this.

Because they didn’t want to be told, “Then what were you doing at the time?”

I heard some of them had panicked and fled the royal capital with their whole families.

If Funabashi Takeshi, the First King, saw that, he’d probably cry.

Naturally, those types lost a lot of standing.

I could now put a crest on my carriage and cloak (normally, if a commoner did that with anything other than a merchant crest, it would be a major crime), and even in other countries I’d be treated as a formal noble.

Maybe this was like a bell they’d hung around my neck—to keep me from going too wild?

If push came to shove, I wouldn’t have time to worry about something like that.

Prince Emilio begged me again, so I ended up telling him the whole story of the adventure.

While serving all sorts of new sweets.

With permission, I brought Eri along and had her make them right in front of everyone.

Her variations had increased again.

I wasn’t holding back—I’d been giving Eri all kinds of things.

A cotton candy machine, a popcorn machine, a takoyaki stall, a taiyaki stall, okonomiyaki, ramen, yakisoba, soft serve, mitarashi dango, gohei mochi, warabi mochi, abekawa mochi, oden, a juice stand, an ice cream freezer showcase, potato chips, fries, crepes, karumera-yaki—every kind of food-making equipment you could imagine, all lined up.

All hail the internet.

It still bugged me that there was nothing with red beans in the lineup.

If only I’d brought even one can of sweet red beans…

The convenience store I stopped at on the way had them, too!

Of course, I didn’t forget cake, cream puffs, and pudding either.

I also had a cute uniform and hat made in the royal capital for a stand vendor, and patterns could be downloaded from the internet—paid or free.

I even prepared an extremely cute apron.

If necessary, I could probably have custom pattern orders made through the net too.

Eri was over the moon—it was her first time at the royal palace.

Naturally, the queen and the princesses were there too.

Eri was completely taken with and turned into a dress-up doll, and she even received various clothes as gifts.

Eri’s home was small, but she had a bracelet with storage enchantments, so there was no trouble finding space for things.

She was being led all over the place, and people kept wondering whose child she was.

But since she was dressed so nicely, they apparently never imagined she was a kid from the Adros slums.

Her face was on the quiet side, but Eri was quite pretty too.

Her mother was stunning, after all.

If you dressed her well, she really popped.

Blonde hair, blue eyes.

As part of the reward, I secured royal-capital residency rights for Eri’s family.

Lisa-san teared up in joy, but she didn’t seem willing to leave Adros, where she had deep memories with her husband.

Eri was fired up, saying she’d open a “branch” in the royal capital someday.

It looked like she didn’t intend to move the main shop.

She probably cherished Adros because her memories of her late father were rooted there too.

I’m glad we protected the city.

Well, she also had her younger siblings.

Right now they were still on the “just eating” side, but someday…

I also got permission from His Majesty to bring the orphans of the Elmia church to the royal capital anytime via teleportation magic, so I was really looking forward to that as well.

Lior-san and Berglit rose in rank.

Lior-san was promoted to director-general, the top position of the Dungeon Management Bureau.

And Berglit was placed directly beneath him as deputy director-general.

Apparently His Majesty personally came to their workplace and made the appointment.

On top of that, both of them were ennobled—baron and junior baron.

There were slots for that because I’d opened them up.

Lior-san was recognized for ordering the investigation first, bringing the truth to light, and preventing a national crisis before it happened.

And after that, he remained deeply involved and was credited with major achievements.

Of course, he was extremely capable, so they also spoke of expectations for the future.

If he hadn’t existed, I probably wouldn’t have gotten involved at all, and Adros—and even the royal capital—would have been in deep trouble.

Or the neighboring country might have used that opening to invade and trample even this kingdom.

I was genuinely grateful to him.

As for Berglit, I heard His Majesty himself placed a hand on Berglit’s shoulder and whispered in his ear.

“You must have had a hard time dealing with that one. Well done.”

It sounded like the kind of thing you had to do to make it feel remotely worth it, but apparently Berglit turned white as a sheet.

I really wish I could’ve seen that moment.

The one who suffered on-site was him.

Well… I’m the one who made him suffer, but still.

By the way, Your Majesty…

When you said “that one,” who exactly were you referring to?