The Wedding and the Lulu Fruit

When I returned to the capital, I enjoyed a fun dinnertime with my friends that healed my exhaustion.

Then, that night…

“Nanashi the Hero?”

“Mm.”

I entered the duke’s private room in his castle, and he greeted me as a friend.

As I spoke, I kept in mind the simple sentences I’d used last time we met.

“A strange hero, to enter through the window like that.”

Sitting across from the duke was the king of Shiga—or rather, his body double.

His tone was like a grandfather scolding a naughty grandchild.

When I landed on the floor and came to the center of the room, the homely atmosphere changed slightly, and the expression of the king’s body double tightened.

“Mr. Nanashi the Hero, as the ruler of the Shiga Kingdom, I thank you for saving our land from destruction.”

The man bowed his head deeply.

Even in an unofficial setting like this, it seemed improper for a king to lower his head to anyone.

“Don’t bow.”

“I would like to reward you and grant you peerage in a public ceremony. Won’t you come with me to the royal capital in my private airship?”

When he looked up, the king said something even more troublesome.

If I accepted a high rank, I’d probably get dragged into all kinds of political struggles with other aristocrats.

“No need.”

“But on top of defeating a demon lord, you brought down a senior greater demon and even the seven giant monster fish it summoned. These are deeds comparable to the ancestral king! To let it go without a single repayment would be—”

I shook my head, interrupting the body double king’s words.

Better wrap up my business here quickly and make myself scarce.

“The prince forgot this.”

“The Holy Sword Claidheamh Soluis…”

I held out the sword to the king, its blade wrapped in cloth.

However, the body double simply stared at it, making no attempt to accept it.

“Mr. Nanashi, I heard from my soldiers that you can produce the true form of this sword. Did I hear correctly?”

I nodded silently at the duke’s question.

Did they think this sword was a fake or something?

“Would you mind showing us?”

Drawing a sword in the duke’s private room seemed like asking to get arrested on the spot, but since he was requesting it himself, I didn’t have much of a choice.

I unraveled the cloth around Claidheamh Soluis’s blade, poured some magic power into it, and recited the scripture.

“<Dance.>”

Just like in the battle with the yellow demon, the sword broke into thirteen smaller blades and floated around my body.

“Incredible!! So the legends were true!”

“Beautiful… The tapestry doesn’t even come close to reproducing it!”

All right, calm down already.

The duke and even the king’s body double looked like they were about to start foaming at the mouth. I wished they’d rein in their fanboying a little.

It seemed to me that they’d seen enough, so I transitioned the sword back into its regular state.

“A number of people have been able to use the scripture to make the sword ‘dance,’ but not since the ancestral king has anyone managed to release its true form…!”

I recovered the MP I’d charged the sword with, wrapped the blade again, and held it out to the king.

However, he still wouldn’t accept it.

“…No, keep it. I wish to entrust it to the one who can bring out its true power.”

Hang on, Mr. Body Double… Should you really be making that decision?

“You sure?”

With those few words, I tried to feel out whether he needed the real king’s permission.

But neither the body double king nor the duke seemed willing to change their minds.

“Of course. Then you must bring the Holy Sword Claidheamh Soluis to the Great Audience Ceremony on New Year’s Day…”

“Not sure I can make it.”

I was trying to indicate that I definitely didn’t want to go, but it didn’t seem to come across.

“…and there I shall declare you the hero of the Shiga Kingdom.”

So if I don’t go, the whole ceremony will be canceled?

Putting that aside for the moment, would the royal capital even be able to defend itself without Claidheamh Soluis?

It was a handy sword and all, but honestly, I could get by just fine without it.

“What about the capital?”

“Hmm. The capital has the Eight Swordsmen of Shiga and their Magic Swords.”

The body double king responded with confidence, but I’d met one of the Eight Swordsmen of Shiga. He was a bodyguard for the prince, and he had been virtually useless in the battle against the yellow-skinned demon.

If the other seven swordsmen were on the same level, could they defeat a greater demon without a Holy Sword?

“Besides, a Holy Sword chooses its wielder. As long as you are around, it likely won’t allow anyone else to use it. Unless the ancestral king Yamato were to be resurrected from the legendary Dreamcrystal Mausoleum, of course.”

I see… Well, I guess there’s no point returning it if they can’t use it.

Oh, I know. Maybe they can use the Holy Sword Gjallarhorn to defend the capital instead?

Unlike most of the other swords, which were said to be gifts from the gods, I thought this one was supposed to have been made by the ancestral king Yamato himself.

“Trade.”

“Wh-why, this is the Holy Sword Gjallarhorn!”

“The Holy Sword that was stolen by the evil lord seventeen years ago!”

Looking at the Holy Sword I held out, the body double king and the duke leaped to their feet in surprise.

“Ooh! Dear God! The sword forged by our great ancestral king Yamato has returned to the Shiga Kingdom at last!”

“Thank you, Nanashi the Hero, thank you!”

I wasn’t expecting them to get this excited.

Maybe I should have returned it sooner.

I thought the “evil lord” the double had mentioned was probably the Undead King Zen, who had given me this Holy Sword in the first place.

Unlike Holy Swords from gods, this one had no limits to who could use it, as evidenced by the fact that the undead Zen was able to do so.

Just in case, I kept my Healing Magic at the ready when I handed the sword over to the body double king, but nothing happened, just as I’d expected.

Incidentally, the third prince, who had rapidly aged in the battle against the yellow demon, had been sent back to the royal capital for rest and treatment.

With my business in the duke’s castle finished, I used the Return spell to teleport to the labyrinth ruins under the old capital.

My plan was to make dragon powder from the black dragon scales I’d acquired the day before.

“…Damn, that’s hard.”

The blue steel tool I got from the kobolds couldn’t even make a scratch.

If I pushed it much harder, the tool itself would probably get chipped instead.

“<For eternity.>”

I removed the Holy Sword Durandal from Storage and spoke the scripture Ringrande had told me about, and its chipped blade instantly restored itself.

It used up the magic power I’d charged it with in the process, but that was a small price to pay.

I didn’t know whether it would work if the blade was completely broken, but either way, that was a pretty handy power.

Guess I’ll start using the Holy Sword Durandal as my main weapon from now on.

“This thing always cuts so well.”

I chopped the scales into small pieces with the Holy Sword Durandal, then rubbed them together to make them into powder.

It started getting pretty tiresome partway through, so I used a small amount of powder as an agent for the Polish spell, which turned the rest of it into powder all at once.

“…Highest quality?”

The completed powder had the status Highest Quality.

Curious, I tried turning a small amount of it into blue and making a single Holy Arrow. To my surprise, it came out three times stronger than the ones I’d made previously.

If they were too strong, I would have fewer opportunities to use them, but I could probably manage that by adjusting the amount of blue.

While I was at it, I mass-produced a thousand bullets with the combination of Magic Mold and Forge. Then I hollowed out a few of those with a Holy Sword and made a bullet version of the Holy Arrows.

I planned to launch these with the Shooter spell.

Next, I carved screw-shaped holes in a few of them. If I screwed arrow shafts into these, I could use them as Holy Arrows, too. I figured shooting them with a Magic Bow might be more powerful than firing them with the Shooter spell.

While I was at it, I made some Magic Bullets with blue made out of normal monster cores, too.

Firing bullets with Shooter proved less accurate than I expected, so I decided to work on a better version of the spell.

I was hoping I could improve their accuracy by adding a lateral rotation vector to their trajectory when fired, like bullets in my old world.

The rest of my scrolls should be ready for pickup in five days or so, so I intended to finish the spell by then.

As for the dragon claw spearhead that I would use to upgrade Liza’s spear, I was concerned about whether I could connect it securely, so I decided to do a little more planning before I attempted anything.

The next day, I was summoned to the duke’s castle regarding the black dragon incident, where the hero and I both received the Ougoch Duchy Dragon Conquering Medal.

This seemed to be a rare medal in a different way from the Ougoch Duchy Sapphire Medal I’d previously received.

With this, I’d be treated almost as well as the head of an upper noble family anywhere in the duchy.

Not that this mattered much, since I already received excessive hospitality as it was.

We also received words of praise from the king’s body double, who was present at the time.

We were also told we could receive medals from the kingdom at the Great Audience Ceremony, where nobles gathered in the old capital to celebrate the New Year.

Then, when I parted ways with the hero, Princess Menea, and the others at the duke’s castle and returned to the mansion where we were staying, the butler informed me that a guest was waiting for me.

“I’m terribly sorry to keep you waiting.”

“Hey, Sir Satou! Nah, I’m the one who showed up without any prior warning.”

Tolma stood up from the sofa, greeting me casually.

He’d done a lot for me, from giving me information on other nobles to introducing me to the scroll workshop run by his family member Viscount Siemmen, so I wasn’t about to give him a hard time for a minor breach of etiquette.

The bigger problem was the unwell-looking man standing behind him.

I’d met him at the duke’s dinner party, but I couldn’t remember his name until I saw it in the AR display.

“I believe you’ve met, but this is Viscount Kirk Emerin, head of the Emerin family.”

“Yes, we were briefly introduced at the dinner party.”

Tolma was usually pretty oblivious, so it was a bit surprising that he actually introduced the man.

If I remembered right, this family managed an expansive orchard and had moved primarily into trade since he’d succeeded the title of viscount.

What did an upper-ranking noble like him want with me?

As far as I could tell from my memos, our only prior connection was that I shared a single dance with his second daughter at the duke’s ball.

“He says he wants your help with something.”

“My help?”

So I guess this wasn’t just an angry father coming to grump at me, then.

If anything, he looked more tired than angry.

“See, the trade fleet he organized with the help of various investors got wiped out near the Seadragon Islands, so—”

“Tolma, you didn’t have to tell him that part.”

Tolma’s cheerful explanation was cut short by a rather sullen Viscount Emerin.

Still, the Seadragon Islands sounded like a pretty exciting place. I quietly added them to my list of tourist destinations.

“What I want to ask you about, Sir Pendragon, is this fruit.”

Viscount Emerin called to a servant standing by the wall, who placed a pile of oddly colored, uneven fruit on the table.

According to my AR, it was called Lulu Fruit.

But the resemblance to my adorable party member Lulu ended there.

The fruit’s skin was the color of mulberry, with mottled gray patches. It had blackish discolored areas, too, like sugar spots on bananas.

It also emitted a nauseating stench like a bunch of thick perfumes all mixed together.

“That’s a very unique fruit you have there.”

My “Poker Face” skill helped me keep a businesslike smile as I made the most harmless remark I could muster.

“I’ve prepared tea, sir.”

“Thank you.”

For some reason, it was Lulu, not a maid, who came over with a tray.

I could see a few familiar young faces poking out beyond the doorway, like Arisa and Pochi, so she was probably sent in as a scout.

“With your cooking skills, would you be able to make some kind of confection that would help sell this fruit?”

That sounded pretty unlikely.

But maybe it actually tasted delicious despite the smell, like durian.

“Well, I can’t say for sure unless I know what it tastes like.”

“Have a taste, then.”

Viscount Emerin’s servant sliced up the fruit with a small knife and lined up a few small, sealed pots on the table.

The fruit was bright ultramarine in color, making me question whether it could even be eaten. The pots, meanwhile, contained the fruit pickled in various liquids.

I tried each one in turn.

Sour! It was a hundred times more acidic than a lemon. And after the sourness, it left a bitter aftertaste, too.

After trying the raw lulu fruit, I tasted it pickled in vinegar and miso, made into jam, dried, and so on, but every one of them was equally gross.

Its grossness rivaled the gabo fruit bread I ate back in Seiryuu City.

Not even sugar or honey would be enough to save this awful flavor.

I washed down the taste with the tea Lulu gave me.

“This is certainly a challenge.”

“I had hoped that a miracle chef like yourself might be able to find another use for this lulu fruit besides feed for livestock.”

“Feed for livestock…,” Lulu repeated gloomily under her breath.

It was enough to make me want to curse out Viscount Emerin, but this was my own fault for not getting Lulu out of the room in time, too.

“Wait a moment. This ‘lulu’ has a lot of potential.”

Though I was facing Viscount Emerin, I was really addressing Lulu.

She raised her downcast eyes to look at me.

“If you give me a few days, I promise you, I can awaken the true splendor of this fruit!”

My bold statement brightened Lulu’s expression ever so slightly.

Perhaps her inferiority complex was improving, little by little.

“A-are you quite certain?”

“Yes, just leave it to me.”

Viscount Emerin clasped my hand as if hanging on to his last hope for salvation.

For him, giving this fruit a higher commercial value was probably the only way to protect his family name.

When Viscount Emerin left with Tolma, the light of hope had returned to his eyes.

Now I just had to make good on my promise.

“That was rather unlike you, master.”

“Was it?”

I responded absently to Arisa’s words as I opened the memo pad from my networking menu and started working on a plan for Operation Lulu Fruit.

She was right, though. The truth was, I’d made the reckless agreement because I couldn’t stand to let this fruit with the same name as Lulu be so unfortunate.

“Do you have a plan?”

“Of course.”

The taste of the lulu fruit really was awful, but depending on how it was treated, its four main points of “sourness,” “bitterness,” “pungency,” and “stench” could be turned into strengths.

Certain forms, like the cooked jam and the dried fruit, even made it a little sweet.

Since Tama and Pochi had strong senses of taste, I recruited them to help with my testing. I wanted to surprise Lulu with the finished product, so I had her work on cooking sponge cakes with Liza.

Getting caught up in the experimental nature of the process, I tried boiling and steaming it at various temperatures, writing the results in my memo pad.

“Oopsie?”

“I-it’s very strong, sir. Makes me want some whale jerky to cleanse my palate, sir.”

At first, the two of them weren’t thrilled with the samples, but after a while…

“Pochiii?”

“Tama!”

…They were morosely whimpering each other’s names as they popped the samples into their mouths.

We’d gone through only half my ideas so far, but I didn’t want to traumatize them, so I let them off the hook for now and continued tasting on my own.

My “Self-Healing” skill managed to heal my paralyzed taste buds, so I could continue the tasting easily enough.

Thanks to that, I was able to come up with an ideal preparation method by the following morning.

“What do you think?”

“I-it’s delicious…”

Lulu, the first to taste the new samples, was speechless.

“Is this really the same fruit from yesterday? The color and smell are both completely different…”

The ultramarine color turned a vivid red in the process, so it was barely recognizable.

“Of course,” I said gently. “I told you, didn’t I? This ‘lulu’ has a lot of potential.”

Lulu looked like she was about to cry.

“…I’ll do my best, too.”

It looked like what I was really trying to say reached her. Lulu smiled through the tears in her eyes.

In Lulu’s case, she had more than just potential—she was already beautiful, but she’d be even more so if she gained some self-confidence.

Though if she got much more charming, the universe itself might be thrown out of balance.

“I told her ‘The Ugly Duckling’ as a bedtime story last night,” Arisa remarked helpfully behind me.

I couldn’t help but praise her for that, so I patted her head approvingly.