By way of chamberlain Xervus-san, I booked an appointment with Margrave Volton, and it’s been 5 days since then.
It was bad timing. Margrave Volton had business at the royal capital and I only received a reply yesterday when he came back to town.
I was waiting in the reception office with Sophia when Margrave Volton and chamberlain Xervus-san came in.
「It’s been a while, Iruma-dono.」
「Yes it has, Margrave Volton-sama.」
「I don’t mind if you call me Lord Volton like usual or Lord Godwin. So, I heard that today’s discussion is private so I cleared the room, but what is it about?」
The ever frank Margrave Volton sat in front of me, and a smiling Xervus-san stood diagonally behind him.
「Yes, the truth is that the other day, I went to the royal capital with the Adventurer Guild’s escort request.」
「Ou, I heard about it, Iruma-dono! So you were promoted to A rank. Being promoted to A rank in this short a time is a new record, you know.」
「Master, you must not interrupt Iruma-dono.」
「Ah, yeah, sorry. Continue.」
Xervus-san cautioned that the discussion was derailing greatly.
「Yes, in the Adventurers Guild at the capital, the heroes of Sydnia got involved picked a fight with me.」
There, I explained in detail of what happened to Margrave Volton.
「Fumu, that trouble ended, right? There’s a different problem, isn’t there?」
I nodded and began talking about Akane-san.
「To tell you the truth, among those heroes, the one that didn’t get involved in the incident came to me for protection, so I am sheltering that person and her young beastkin maid.」
I kept the fact that one of the reasons I am sheltering Akane-san is because she’s from the same place as me.
「………… oh lord, I heard the hero summoning was good, but is that not an abduction from another world? Furthermore, the reason was for them to become pawns of war, …………that rotten Sydnia.」
「I also have a problem with the hero summoning. However, the two remaining heroes, I don’t know what’s wrong with them, but they seem to have been brainwashed completely by Sydnia and tainted with the doctrine on Human supremacy.」
「……So, for them to quarrel with Iruma-dono, how were the heroes’ strength?」
Margrave Volton asked about the issue with the heroes’ strengths.
「It may have been because of the magic formula of the summoning magic circle, their growth capability is better than the average person’s, but even so, it didn’t feel exceptional. Their levels are still low, so I don’t think those two have the strength the overturn the state of a war.」
「How is their growth speed? A year hasn’t passed yet since their summoning, right?」
「It is relatively fast, but I think my Maria and Laeva are faster. However, I expect that with another 2 years, they’ll become A rank adventurers.」
There are only a handful of A rank adventurers in this world, but they have the ability to reach it if they train desperately for 2 years. It’s not that complicated to reach the level of those handful of people if they train diligently because, in one world out of many, they already are 3 people selected from over 7 billion people living there.
「Either they’ll be A rank in 3 years, or they aren’t enough of a threat.」
The way Margrave Volton took it was different from me who took it more heavily. Even in Volton, which is known as an adventurer town, excluding Sophia and myself, there are only 5 A rank adventurers. 3 among them are Heath-san and his bunch, so A rank adventurers are understood to be valuable.
Actually, Sophia and I greatly exceed the limits of A rank adventurers in level. Heath-san and the others who were promoted to A rank a step earlier than us are at around Lv70. Moreover, the growth values of their status can be as much as 3 for each level up, but their ability growth is as little as 0 – 1. Mine grows from as little as 3 to as much as 5, while the girls grow in the range of 2 – 4. There’s a big change in our statuses with each level up. Furthermore, with a large correction to our skill growth, we don’t actually fit into the framework of the A rank.
「Well, I don’t think there’s anything wrong being too vigilant. There are zealots in Sydnia, so we can only pray that neither they nor the heroes ever attack the Genesis Faith or hunt the other races.」
「…… that is indeed worrying. Frankly, it’s not just in our country. The church officials of the Genesis Faith in Samandour Kingdom have apparently been attacked several times. The criminals were unknown but…………」
「Was it the fanatics of Light God Faith, the Kamui unit?」
「That might almost certainly be the case.」
According to the information Margrave Volton had gotten hold of, even Samandour Kingdom, a region of the Genesis Faith where many beastkin reside, was attacked. Many citizens had been caught in it and there was a great number of casualties.
「Akane-san will be much safer in Volton than the royal capital, wouldn’t she?」
「Yeah, I will inform his Majesty, but for the meantime, I will have to trouble you to be her guard, Iruma-dono. That would be much more secure than sheltering them poorly at my castle or at the royal castle.」
「………… Indeed. I’ll strengthen the security system of the mansion.」
「I leave it to you. She was forcibly taken from a different world and separated from her parents and siblings. That heroine likely needs care, too. Do take care of her with Sophia-dono and the others.」
「Understood.」
In this meeting, it’s been decided that Akane-san will be living in my mansion for a while so that Sydnia doesn’t find out. As for me, I was thinking this is might be nice to take them to Bohd Village on this occasion.
In any case, I need to arrange Akane-san’s defense setup and Lulu-chan’s treatment.
***