Your Majesty, Dinner Is Ready. Chapter 117 - Chieftain, You're Amazing!

Chapter 117 — Chieftain, You’re Amazing!

 

“You’re requesting to be discharged? Understood.”

The celestial shaman who ran Wings of the Sky approved my discharge in less than five seconds after meeting me.

Perhaps because everything was settled so quickly, Marlin blinked blankly.

“…Can you really decide something like that so easily?”

“I’ve already done everything I can.”

The celestial healer brushed back their disheveled hair.

“I can’t do anything about the remaining side effects of the artifact. If you get plenty of rest, you’ll recover soon enough.”

“How much rest?”

“About five years?”

“…”

As expected, Mind Usurper’s penalty was absurdly severe.

Even Eradra, the White Jade Hand Guild Master who had only used its effect once as I had, was probably lying in bed groaning right about now.

‘Maybe I’ll brew some medicine and bring it to him later.’

For some reason, he seemed to dislike me. If I gave him a gift, perhaps our relationship would improve. As Pletica’s greatest craftsman, there was no downside to becoming friends with him.

As luck would have it, I knew exactly the sort of thing a dragonkin would like.

“Thank you very much for treating me. I’ll be going now.”

After giving the celestial healer a polite bow, I headed toward the Ash Wolf Guild headquarters together with the siblings.

“That’s the Golden Crow.”

“It is.”

“He looks even scarier in person…”

“Don’t go near him!”

Perhaps because the guild war had ended only recently, people showered me with attention the entire way.

“That’s right. I am none other than Karr, cultist of the Twisted Truth.”

I smiled brightly and waved. The townspeople quietly averted their eyes.

It was a reaction that dealt tremendous damage to the fragile heart of this humble cultist.

“Do either of you know why nobody returns my greeting?”

“…Probably because you smiled.”

“Why? What’s wrong with my refreshing smile?”

“Sigh. Never mind.”

Marlin openly gave up, while Abel simply shook his head in silence.

In the end, I never figured out what the problem was before arriving at the Ash Wolf Guild headquarters.

The building, shaped like a wolf’s head, was already overflowing with lively conversation.

The banquet had apparently already begun.

Leading the siblings inside, we entered the tavern-like first floor. The gathered guild members all turned to look at us.

“Greetings. The adorable little jack-of-all-trades cultist, Karr, has arrived.”

“…”

The moment I greeted them cheerfully, silence fell over the room.

Why was everyone acting like this?

“Oh! Tribesman Karr! The hero who won the guild war has arrived!”

A booming voice shattered the silence.

The one responsible was Brunelda, the North Continent barbarian vice guild master, who occupied the center table together with the other two vice guild masters.

“Karr!”

“You’re here.”

Dran and Rai, who had fought alongside me in the guild war, greeted me warmly as well. Only then did the ordinary guild members begin showering me with enthusiastic greetings.

“Thanks, Golden Crow!”

“You were incredible!”

“Still… you were kind of scary!”

Accepting the gratitude pouring in from all directions with satisfaction, I casually asked,

“Would anyone happen to be interested in embarking upon a journey of knowledge in search of the Twisted Truth?”

“…”

The noisy guild members all fell silent at once. They even started avoiding my gaze.

“Sir Dran?”

“…I serve One Who fiercely wages battle, so I can’t.”

“What about you, Sir Rai?”

“You know perfectly well what happens when an elf worships an Evil God…”

In the end, not a single guild member declared they wished to devote themselves to Lord Lidni.

[A bitter piece of information: Not a single intelligent being became a new believer after the guild war. The same goes for the other loser Evil Gods.]

It was an incredibly disappointing result. I’d performed spectacularly in the guild war and even advertised passionately.

So why had I made no progress whatsoever?

[Correction: Okail gained a few.]

Apparently, the usefulness of [Transformation] had left too great an impression. Compared to that, the other Evil Gods’ Mysteries simply hadn’t stood out very much.

“Tribesman Karr! Hurry over and sit down! We left a seat for you!”

Brunelda loudly patted the empty seat beside him. The vice guild masters and the members of Moon Expedition were all seated at the same table. Three empty chairs had been left for the siblings and me.

“Have you rested well, Chieftain?”

As soon as I sat down, a powerful hand repeatedly pounded my shoulder.

“Hahaha! Our Tribesman Karr is just too adorable!”

“Hm, I am admittedly rather cute. But could you please stop patting me? I think my shoulder is about to dislocate.”

‘BAM! BAM! BAM!’

While my body fluttered helplessly from the impacts, Pendrick, seated on Brunelda’s right, waved enthusiastically. As expected of a social butterfly, he’d apparently already become close with Brunelda, whose scar-covered barbarian arm rested around his shoulders.

“Chieftaaaain! The guild waaar was amaaazing!”

Judging by his slightly slurred speech, he’d already had quite a few drinks.

“Honestly, I couldn’t help but worry at first. I mean, guild wars are competitions where only high-level explorers participate, right? So I kept wondering whether a Level 4 captain like you would really be okay… But at the same time, deep down, I was also excited…”

He chattered endlessly.

“…Enough.”

By the time he’d reached ‘the incredible thrill of Captain perfectly fooling the White Jade Hand vice guild master’, Bartimir covered the genius swordsman’s mouth.

Then he said brightly,

“I’m just glad Mom’s safe!”

“…”

The surrounding tables instantly fell silent.

“How’s your head? I heard you used an artifact that dealt severe mental damage, so I was worried.”

“Please rest assured. Karr’s mind is as healthy as ever. But it wasn’t exactly healthy even normally, so perhaps there wasn’t much reason to worry in the first place.”

“…Pardon? What do you mean by that?”

“You’re… seriously asking?”

Bartimir avoided answering directly before continuing,

“We were actually training by ourselves earlier. Watching the guild war really made us realize just how far behind we are compared to high-level explorers.”

“I felt exactly the same.”

Pendrick nodded vigorously, smiling brightly. Since their attitudes were exemplary, I decided to offer them a kind, honest truth.

“Indeed. Had you participated, you probably wouldn’t even have made it into the Inner Depths before being eliminated.”

Every explorer who participated in the guild war was a Level 6 or higher veteran.

Even though everyone’s Soul Rank and physical abilities had been adjusted to the same level, our expedition members simply lacked the experience necessary to compete.

“You’ll have to work even harder from now on. After all, you’re members of the Moonlight Expedition led by yours truly.”

Once news of the guild war spread to the other districts, I would undoubtedly become Pletica’s most famous rising explorer.

Which also meant… the likelihood of becoming a target for outlaws would increase dramatically.

“We’ll have to be much more careful inside labyrinths from now on.”

Lucius, who had remained silent until now, smiled faintly.

“Lord Karr already never conducts ordinary expeditions, and now the threat of outlaws has been added on top of that.”

“So in other words, you’re saying you’re even more excited now?”

“…”

The sleepy-eyed priest quietly turned his head away.

“Lord Karr really is such a unique person!”

Yallen, the West Continent dwarf vice guild master, said cheerfully while drinking milk.

[Translation: No matter how I think about it, you’re seriously one weird guy.]

“You certainly are unique.”

Vice Guild Master Dilmo, the gnome, rested his chin on the table with a smirk.

[Vice Guild Master Dilmo (Underground Gnome, age 52). An incredibly brilliant strategist despite being a martial artist who fights with his body. What a strange dwarf. Don’t even talk to him, his weirdness might rub off on you!]

With Rigobert dead at the hands of the Conspirator, every remaining vice guild master had gathered in one place.

Normally, they were far too busy with guild duties and expeditions for such a gathering ever to happen.

‘Perfect timing.’

I intended to ask each of the Ash Wolf Guild’s vice guild masters for one favor. I’d contributed enormously to winning the guild war. Surely they wouldn’t be able to refuse.

“Chieftain.”

I addressed Brunelda, who would generally grant almost any request from one of his “tribesmen.”

“Ah, right! There was something I wanted to tell you, Tribesman Karr!”

But the straightforward barbarian vice guild master beat me to it, patting my shoulder.

“The vice guild masters and I have decided we’ll each grant one of your wishes!”

“…Brunelda?”

“What?”

Yallen frowned while lowering his glass of milk. Dilmo didn’t seem particularly enthusiastic either.

“If it weren’t for our Tribesman Karr, we’d never have won! We ought to repay that much kindness!”

“The Guild Master is already planning to reward him, so why go this far…”

“People need to act on impulse once in a while instead of constantly calculating profit and loss! That’s the only way to free yourself from the chronic exhaustion that comes from obsessing over doing only ‘the right thing!'”

‘Clap! Clap! Clap!’

It was such a profound statement that I couldn’t help applauding.

“As expected of our Chieftain!”

“Chieftain, you’re amazing!”

Pendrick, who had already become Brunelda’s tribesman, joined me in applauding and praising him.

“Hahaha! You pretty little things certainly know how to flatter!”

Brunelda laughed heartily as he thumped the shoulders of the tribesmen seated on both sides.

Vice Guild Master Dilmo shrugged with a chuckle.

“Well, as long as the requests aren’t unreasonable, I don’t mind. The kid really did accomplish something remarkable.”

“Exactly! What about you, Yallen?”

“…I’ll join in too.”

The very embodiment of generosity. The pinnacle of magnanimity. Brunelda wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

“Come on then! Tell us what wishes you’d like us to grant! Right now, I’d even hand over my entire fortune if that’s what you asked!”

“You truly are a great hero.”

Nestled shyly against Brunelda, I spoke.

“First of all, Sir Brunelda, I’d like you to become the swordsmanship master of our expedition’s genius swordsman, Sir Pendrick.”

“Our Tribesman Pendrick?”

Brunelda glanced toward Pendrick.

“He certainly has remarkable… no, extraordinary talent. Calling him a genius swordsman isn’t an exaggeration in the slightest.”

The barbarian vice guild master repeatedly slapped Pendrick’s back before nodding vigorously.

“Done! It’s a request from our Tribesman Karr, and teaching someone that talented would be rewarding. I have no reason to refuse!”

“Thank you.”

“And thank you too! The famous ‘Rhinoceros of the North Continent’ is becoming my master? My father is going to be absolutely thrilled!”

As Pendrick immediately burst into cheers, Astrimia’s Ego Sword, nestled in his lover’s embrace, gently trembled.

That little movement was the dance it performed whenever it was happy. It seemed delighted that Pendrick would finally learn proper swordsmanship Mysteries.

“I’d like to make similar requests of the other two as well.”

I turned toward the two shorter vice guild masters seated beside one another.

“Sir Yallen, I’d like you to teach my ward, the thief Marlin, that illusion-type Mystery you use so often.”

Yallen’s martial Mystery, [Rabbit Division].

I intended for Marlin to learn the high-performance Mystery that summoned a clone possessing the exact same abilities as its user.

“This time it’s me?”

Marlin tilted her head while stuffing meat into her mouth.

“But I only recently learned a bunch of amazing Mysteries.”

“Thieves should master a wide variety of miscellaneous Mysteries. Especially you.”

The tiger beastfolk thief was a jack-of-all-trades. Therefore, she needed to become an all-rounder with strong fundamentals in every field.

“Okay! I’ll teach her with all I’ve got!”

Yallen readily accepted my request.

At least outwardly. Perhaps he felt differently inside, but surely he wasn’t the sort of petty dwarf who’d wage a battle of wills against a child. In the end, he’d probably teach her sincerely.

“So who am I getting?”

Vice Guild Master Dilmo, who had been watching with amusement, smiled.

“Sir Dilmo, I’d like you to teach martial arts to that kind-looking demon over there, Bartimir.”

“I’m fine with that.”

Bartimir accepted immediately without the slightest hesitation. His trust in me had already blasted straight through the ceiling.

That’s my daughter.

“…Hold on. Isn’t he a dark mage?”

“That’s correct.”

“And you want me to teach him martial arts?”

“Yes. He’s a dark mage, but his fists and feet are his primary weapons.”

“…”

Dilmo blinked blankly at Bartimir.

“What are you looking at?”

“…This won’t be easy. But fine. If I’m doing it, I’ll do it properly.”

And with that, Pendrick, Marlin, and Bartimir each gained a martial Mystery to learn.

The ceremony granting the Ash Wolf Guild authority over District Three would be held five days later. If they trained diligently until then, they’d have plenty of time to learn them.

It would be difficult. But life was difficult by nature. Surely that would be fine.

“Now then, shall we enjoy the banquet?”

The moment I took my first spoonful of soup…

“Lord Karr.”

Hearing someone call me, I turned around.

An elf wearing clothing emblazoned with a wolf emblem stood there.

[Elvira, Targon’s secretary (Gem Elf, 859 years old). The gap in strength prevents me from reading her exact information, but you already know exactly what kind of elf she is anyway, so it doesn’t matter!]

“Greetings, Lady Elvira.”

“It’s a pleasure.”

Elvira bowed politely before speaking.

“The Guild Master is waiting for you. He wishes to settle your reward immediately.”

It seemed he intended to deliver the promised reward without delay.

Such decisiveness truly suited a Berserker.

“I understand. Shall we go?”

It was time to become a perfectly legal phantom thief… and thoroughly empty the Ash Wolf Guild’s treasury.