Ripening (3)

Afterward, Idlen said she could not buy a large quantity, but conveyed her intention to buy one hundred bottles, and Rens beside her also conveyed that he wanted to buy ten bottles if he was able to purchase them.

“Hmm, before, the Empire controlled this liquor, saying they would be the only ones to drink it, but now there is no need to concern ourselves with that, so I will sell it to the two of you. And I am also thinking of distributing a certain amount on the market. And Seria, could you bring Ingrad Rum as well?”

At my words, Seria said she understood and moved toward the wall of the audience chamber before taking out a new one.

“When Ingrad Rum is opened once, I drink it all myself if possible, you see. It seems there are only new bottles.”

At my awkwardly spoken words, the two asked whether I could drink all of such strong liquor, and I said to them,

“Alcohol is something you get better at drinking as you keep drinking it. That is why I have been worrying lately that an ‘addiction’ might develop.”

Fortunately, thanks to Hare’s words that mana and magic power were detoxifying harmful things acting on my body, I had been relieved of a major worry, but I was feeling the need to control it.

Then, while looking over the Ingrad Rum that Seria had brought, I said,

“Seria brought a proper one. To think she would bring a forty-five-year-old one to serve guests…”

A thirty-three-year-old would have been enough… While thinking that, I saw the two with shining eyes and had no choice but to pull out the stopper and pour the liquor into new glasses.

Then I was also able to pour an appropriate amount into my glass and drink with them, and the interesting part was that the two were looking at me with rabbit eyes.

“What… is this?”

First, it was Idlen’s question, and I answered her question with another question instead.

“What do you mean?”

“Such an incredibly deep flavor… It is an enchanting taste… And even though it is the same strong liquor, this feels cool rather than hot… How did this happen?”

In truth, it was hot all the same. However, the characteristic of Ingrad Rum was that it went down the throat coolly. Instead, once it entered the stomach, it was a liquor with the nature of heating up so warmly that one could tell where the stomach was.

It seemed Idlen felt it as well.

Her expression was slightly furrowed, but she seemed to find it interesting.

“What a strange sensation… It is wonderful liquor. The taste is superb too… How…”

“I am the only one who drinks this liquor. I do not sell it either. A few bottles released as gifts are all.”

Idlen, whose desire had begun to settle in, looked at me and asked.

“It is such wonderful liquor that I cannot even ask you to give it to me as a gift… I would like to buy even a few bottles in small quantity, so would there be no way?”

At that moment, after drinking the liquor, Rens also spoke to me with a slightly furrowed expression.

“Would it be all right for me to ask for your understanding as well?”

It was a statement that made me chuckle. In any case, I thought Seria was truly too much. I wondered if she had raised their standards too much.

Royal Rum was already a liquor that would cause a stir if enough of it was released on the continent. But Ingrad Rum had a wonderful flavor that surpassed imagination.

One reason was that it had been aged for a long time, but it was also because I had personally poured a great deal of mana into it during the manufacturing process to raise its taste and quality.

Because it produced a wonderful taste befitting the amount of care that had gone into it, I had been enjoying it quite a bit, and it seemed they wanted to buy it.

“Well, I will yield three bottles each to the two of you. However, I cannot yield on the price. How much will you pay per bottle?”

I asked for their first offer, and unlike Idlen, who was thinking with a serious expression, Rens, unlike his initial appearance, very boldly took a bundle of paper from his pocket and said to me,

“Five thousand great gold coins per bottle. Here are fifteen promissory notes for one thousand great gold coins each. I believe this is a fair price.”

I looked at Rens with an expression that said a madman had appeared, but the problem was Idlen’s reaction.

“It seems like a fair price. I was thinking of that price as well. It seems our thoughts match.”

I had no choice but to be stunned, thinking these two damn people had lost their minds, but that day, I was able to earn thirty thousand great gold coins with a mere six bottles of liquor.

And afterward, I heard a strange rumor, which said that a bottle of liquor presented to the Emperor of Dradnos received a reward of one hundred thousand great gold coins, and he even conveyed his wish to purchase more, but when told that it was liquor that could not be obtained, he spent his days in sorrow and tears.

On the day of the coronation, I put on the elaborately decorated mantle, but I had to be flustered by its tremendous weight, heavy enough to crush my shoulders.

“You are telling me to wear this and parade that long distance?”

At my words, Vincent, who had become the royal palace chief attendant and had prepared the clothes, showed a troubled expression.

“Even that… was reduced after you ordered us to lower the weight as much as possible.”

This was troublesome. It was heavy, far too heavy. So I quietly asked,

“Why did it become this heavy?”

“That… as we decorated it with griffon leather and the jewels sent by the chieftains of each beastkin tribe… its weight began to increase.”

I recalled Wijel’s words, saying that the best “courtesy” was not to refuse the gifts sent by the beastkin but to show them to those who had gifted them.

“How many kilograms is this?”

“Hmm… first, the leather alone is about thirty kilograms. If the jewels and ornaments are combined, roughly seventy kilograms…”

My body weight right now is a little under seventy. That meant I had to walk while carrying a weight equal to my body weight on my back.

On top of that, the mantle was not the only thing I had to carry.

I was in a situation where I had to wear and carry the “scepter” to be used at the coronation, the crown made of mithril, and thick clothing said to be the king’s formal attire.

“Hare… is there no method?”

“Even if I were to lighten it with magic, among the jewels, there are some jewels that scatter magic power.”

“Things like that exist?”

“They are quite remarkable items. It would be fine to think that the beastkin chieftain who gave them as a gift made an extraordinary decision.”

I thought I would go crazy, and as I was worrying whether there was any method, Wijel and the others entered the dressing room and offered courtesy to me.

“You must leave in ten minutes.”

It sounded like thunder. In addition, Linda and Matilda, who entered behind Wijel, were also wearing dresses unlike usual, and I could tell that all the other vassals had dressed themselves up quite properly as well.

“I have to walk at the very front, right?”

“Naturally. You must climb to the place where the goddess looks down and receive the god’s blessing.”

This coronation had been prepared in the manner used when the beastkin tribe enthroned someone. The venue was a place with an altar beneath the statue of the Goddess Artemisia that I had asked them to build in advance, and I found it absurd that I had to climb there, deliver the long speech I had prepared, and wait for the god’s blessing to descend.

It was a method of proceeding with the event that showed the beastkin tribe’s will, that “a king is a position decided by god,” but it was a moment when I thought I would also be troubled if Artemisia truly descended.

This world basically had a god that humans followed. Why else would there even be a sacred nation?

In any case, separate from that, the weight of the outfit was heavy, and there were also many guests watching, so it was burdensome. It was only the enthronement of the king of a small country, but because all kinds of countries were showing interest, I had been told that the number of guests who had come was close to ten thousand.

‘Receiving a god’s blessing while crossing through ten thousand people… This is insane.’

I was not happy. It seemed the saying that excessive attention caused rejection was true. And just as every minute and second felt like hell, the sound of trumpets announcing the start of the ceremony rang out from outside.

And just as Wijel also said that I should now prepare and go out,

Demina and Wijel, who were showing gentle smiles, stood side by side behind me and lightly lifted the edge of the mantle.

But strangely, I could feel it become considerably lighter. When I turned my head in puzzlement, Wijel asked,

“Allow us to perform the ceremonial duty, Your Highness.”

Wijel politely lowered his head, and Demina also made a similar remark while showing me a playful expression.

It seemed they had prepared this in advance.

Was that why?

For no reason, my heart felt warm and proud. Thinking about it, the mantle now draped around me was no different from being hung with the gifts that all the beastkin tribes of Ingrad had joined together to give me.

The mantle itself was also an item Wijel had personally hunted and presented from a monster called a Griffon Lord. Wijel had even told me that in human society, it was an extremely precious item that only noble people could wear.

It was a part that showed just how terribly much he thought of me, and the moment I walked past the lifted curtain with the help of Wijel and Demina, I could not help but be startled by the suffocating concentration of attention.

It had definitely been quiet. There had been almost no sound other than breathing, and there had been no commotion, only stillness and silence.

But the gazes flying toward me from beyond the lifted curtain were not merely twenty thousand eyes. Yes, this place was also the center of Ing City. There were many tall buildings, and excluding the existing guests, there was also space that could accommodate many more people.

Even so, I had thought that no matter how many people gathered, it would only be so much, but this… was not the simple crowd I had imagined.

It felt as if nearly the entire population existing in Ingrad had gathered, and with the wall of whale beastkin and the small beastkin riding on top of them, it was such a grand spectacle that countless eyes were looking at me with smiles.

Was this what it felt like to be so nervous that one could not breathe?

Just as I was tensing at the gazes flying toward me, to the point where even taking one step felt burdensome, voices came from the left and right.

“All rise!!”

It was Gamung’s shout, filled with mana. But why rise?

Just as I thought that, the Ingrad Domain Army waiting at the place where I was to walk, dressed in matching pure-white uniforms, raised their firearms toward the sky. Then, as if in a military parade, I saw them lower their firearms, hold them before their chests, and offer a military salute.

A uniform noise rang out as if only one person had moved, and soon, at the same time as they shouted the word “Loyalty!” various kinds of instruments began to play.

Was this something to make so grand…?

Just as I seriously thought that, Demina spoke in a small voice.

“You have to walk now.”

Did Demina know that my feet would not move because of the tremendous pressure?

However, at that moment, mana began to flow from Demina’s side. And not long after, warm-feeling mana flowed in from Wijel as well, and I could feel the tension in my body ease, making me understand why the two had said they would hold the mantle and accompany me.

Then, just as I took one step forward, Debik’s booming voice spread from behind me.

“Long live the monarch!!”

At that resounding cry, the soldiers who had shouted “Loyalty!” also shouted, “Long live!” and it was so embarrassing…

Thinking that my hands and feet were curling from embarrassment, I began moving forward while feeling slightly shrunken. But the strange thing was…

In time with the speed I walked, I saw the beastkin near me show the highest courtesy and kneel on one knee.

It was not simply one person showing courtesy, but as though I was parting waves… with every step I took, the beastkin showed courtesy like that, and the people who had come as guests also took their own forms of courtesy and bowed their heads along the path I walked.

I knew that among them were quite a few royals, but it began to enter my eyes that each of them was taking their own courtesy, as though they clearly recognized that the main figure of this occasion was me.

Was that why…?

I thought I should not show an embarrassing appearance, and little by little, I straightened my hunched shoulders as I advanced one step at a time.