Epilogue

“Uh, by the way, couldn’t we have just asked her to store us in the same bubble as the kidnapper from the start?”

...So you noticed, huh? A little late for that, Wataru. “My actual plan was to break the barriers and save them after draining all the water. Through force, of course. If Dinne kept fighting even at that point, well, we could hardly be blamed for what would happen next.”

“Keima, you’re really pissed that Rokuko got kidnapped, aren’t you? Am I right?”

I wasn’t aware of it myself, but I was probably pretty mad. Yeah.

“Well, you got lucky, Dinne. This guy actually beat the crap of Salamander at Tsia Mountain.”

“Wait... Tsia Mountain’s Salamander...?! The head Salamander?!”

Hey, don’t go around giving me a bad name. You and Redra beat him up, not to mention all the damage he inflicted on himself. All I did was threaten to tell Redra about some things.

“Uwaaah! I should have given up way earlieeer! I’m so stupid!”

...Well, let’s just be glad neither of us inflicted permanent damage on the other. Yeah. It could always be worse!

In the end, we called everyone back to pump water from the river back into the pond... Or that’s what I expected to happen, anyway. After calling everyone back, we just connected the pond to the river with the hose directly and Dinne began refilling her pond at an incredibly fast rate. Almost like filling a pool with water. The villagers went nuts at the sight of that.

“Incredible! The divine and mighty Dinne is impressive beyond words!”

“She is the true goddess of the pond!”

“Indeed, sing more of my praises! Worship me, give me offerings! Hyahaha! Bring me wateeer!”

At this rate, everything would be back to normal tomorrow. And by the way... Resting upon Dinne’s chest gleamed a mythril holy symbol of Beddhism, which I had given her as both an offering and as a small apology. She joined our religion the second she saw the symbol, crafted by Untara. The mythril axe I had destroyed was actually just a normal steel axe with a layer of mythril on top, so she was overjoyed to have something made of pure mythril.

In any case, it was time to fulfill our promise to the townsfolk aaand... hold a feast around the pond.

“I wasn’t helpful at all this time.” Niku, standing next to me, slumped her head sadly. Her tail was hanging weakly.

“Don’t worry. You were plenty helpful.”

“But...”

“Dude, Niku, relax. You think Master would lie to you?” said a drunk Ichika.

“I was... useful?”

“Of course. If not for you, I might’ve lost my mind for a second there.”

“.........”

Oh, nice, she’s cheered up. Her tail is wagging. I patted Niku’s head.

“Hey, hey, Master. How about you use this babelicious Ichika as your daki tonight, huh? Babe-a-licious. Eheheh.” Ichika clung to me, practically rubbing her body against me. Nice beer smell.

“Hey, could somebody get some water? This girl’s drunk as hell.”

“Awww, I’m totes not drunk at all yet. I’ve still got lots to drink! Don’t be a buzzkiiiill!”

Yeah, yeah, most drunks never say they’re drunk. Niku came back with water pretty fast.

“Gahahaha! Keima, ye gotta drink too! Wataru the Hero’s paying for it all tonight! Yer wasting yer money if ye don’t drink!”

“Ahaha, drink and eat all you want! Wataru’s covering everything! There’s only potatoes here, though!”

“There’s sausages, too! Keima, want a drink? I’m drinking too!”

Gozou, Roppe, and Wataru dropped by. The full and complete Team Bacchus. Yeah, these are the drunks that actually do know when they’re drunk.

“Glad to see all of you in a good mood. A Hero’s party sure is a step above the rest.”

“What’re you talking about? Keima, this is pretty much a feast celebrating you, y’know? You did most of the saving yourself. Saving a princess is a big deal! Hah, I wouldn’t be surprised if you ended up with a full noble title and some land to rule.”

“Hey. All I saved was the princess’s body double. As far as the public’s concerned, anyway.”

“In a lot of ways, body doubles are just as important as the real imperial princess. And Mephy’s the real thing anyway, so.”

Ngh... Alright. All I can do is convince myself that since I’m already being called a legendary Dragon tamer, this won’t make a huge difference.

“Don’t ye sweat it. We’ll go an’ spread Beddhism where we can. Ye already converted Untara’s place, yeah? Turns out gettin’ more sleep helped raise their efficiency.”

“And now Dinne’s a part of Beddhism too! We should go ahead and build a church in Corky, really.”

...Yeah, I don’t know what to say about that. I’ve been doing a little proselytizing myself, but uh, I don’t want to be that aggressive about it. And why the heck is Undine joining Beddhism? Stop!

I decided to change the topic. “More importantly, who was behind the kidnapping after all?”

“That’s not anything for us to worry about. We’ve already handed him over, and specialists will take care of everything else. The Empire is pretty good about getting information it wants.”

I had to question how competent the Empire was if they entrusted saving the princess to Wataru and me.

“Well, to be honest, it didn’t take long to figure out he’s from an extremist faction in the Holy Kingdom. Is there anything else you want to know?”

...Now that he mentions it, not really. Not like knowing will change anything.

“Cheers, then!” Wataru and I slapped mugs together in a cheers, mine filled with water. Oh, and it was pond water cleaned by the goddess of the pond, so it was pretty healthy stuff.

“There you are, Keima.”

“Oh, Rokuko. And Princess Mephy.”

Rokuko, who had been engaged in deep conversation with Emmymephy for a bit, came walking over. Emmymephy was with her.

“I say, Rokuko is indeed best for you, Keima. She is better fit for you than even I, the imperial princess.”

“Eheheh, well, I did manage to have a full conversation with him through just eye contact when we couldn’t hear each other! We are partners, after all!”

Hey, that was just because we were using the tag function to chat... But well, I guess that’s how it looks from the outside. Probably best to roll with that rather than to spill the beans about the dungeon.

“You really should have noticed us sooner, Keima.”

“Oh? But I say, he and Wataru discovered us as soon as one would think reasonably possible.”

“They wouldn’t have lost us in the first place if they were thinking that fast.”

“Ahhh, I suppose that’s true.” Emmymephy giggled. They really had become fast friends.

“...You better not drink this time, alright, Rokuko?”

“Hmph. I-I know, I won’t. You don’t want me to drink, right?”

“Indeed, he wants to keep your cute drunk self all to himself.”

“Princess Mephy, could you keep that kind of comment to yourself?”

“I merely stated the truth!”

...I fell silent, unable to argue, and Rokuko blushed crimson.

“Oh, Rokuko? I say, you’re getting bright red despite not drinking at all!”

“Sh-Shut it, this is all Keima’s fault! Keima, you need to apologize by... by... giving me an apology kiss!” How does that logic even work?

“Rokuko, that isn’t what we talked about. I say, what happened to giving him a princess kiss as thanks for saving you?”

“F-Forget about that! We might make babies if we kiss each other anyway!”

“Kisses don’t make babies... Rokuko, I say, just how innocent are you?”

...Looks like Emmymephy pushed Rokuko toward this.

“Now, now, go for it, I say!”

“.........”

Yeah, looks like it’s a little... a lot embarrassing for her to do it in front of other people. Especially when one such person is staring right at us.

“That’s more something to do in private, I think.”

“.........Mmm.”

“I say, what a coward’s way out. But the royal will decrees that you be forgiven, since Rokuko seems satisfied.” Emmymephy went off to greet other people. Though I would have expected that as imperial princess, she would instead be on constant guard against the flood of people coming to greet her.

“...You’re not going with her, Rokuko?”

“Not right now. More importantly, Keima.”

“Hm? Whoa, oof.”

Rokuko clung to my arm. “I’ll forgive you since you did actually come save me.”

“A-Alright.” What is she forgiving me for, again? I had no idea, but I went ahead and nodded anyway.

＊ ＊ ＊

It turned out that the Japanese sake I bought with DP to offer up to Dinne was the best present she could have asked for. She was basically showering herself in it, and by that I mean she was literally dunking it on her head. Undine consumed drinks in quite the extravagant manner.

“This water! Is amazing! It’s so good! So go...ood... zzz...” And thanks to her extravagant drinking, she had alcohol coursing through her entire body in no time, knocking her out stone cold. We used that opportunity to leave for the imperial capital. We’re leaving the rest to you, Corky citizens! Good luck!

Anyway, three days passed after that, and only then did we finally arrive at the imperial capital.

“That was a long journey... Needlessly long, really...”

“Haha, I’m pretty thankful for it,” Wataru said. “This trip felt especially long to me too.”

We did what we had to do at the east gate and went inside in no time. The guards saluted us, Wataru gave a salute back, and we were in the imperial capital.

The gate led to a long, wide road made of paved stone. To the left and right were rows of buildings, some made out of stone and others made out of wood. The city was breathtaking, an unmistakable aesthetic step above all the cities we had visited on the way here. The group of alchemists in the Hero Workshop had been expending enormous effort to make a ton of buildings that resembled European architecture, which was one trademark of the imperial capital. Though they had been clearly going off memory.

The main street was worthy of its name, with a huge crowd of people and carriages moving up and down it. About one out of ten of the carriages looked fancier than the others and had crests emblazoned on them.

“And here’s the capital!” declared Wataru proudly with the main street behind his back. You standing in the wagon makes it kind of hard to see, but putting that aside, everyone can see him from outside. He sure doesn’t care about embarrassing himself.

Emmymephy, a native of the imperial capital herself, watched on with a slight smirk. “I say, a number of people react like this after entering the capital. Not too many will even take notice of him.”

“Yeah, good point. This is the capital, after all.”

“Wow, Keima, you don’t seem very moved. It’s almost like you’ve seen a city this impressive before, or perhaps several cities much more impressive than this,” Wataru said.

“Mikan was nothing special, but I just saw Tsia, Donsama, and Corky. They were all pretty big.”

“...I feel like the capital is on another level from those.”

“Well, you know what they say, both a hundred and a million are ‘a lot.’ Once cities reach a certain size it’s hard to get more impressed when they get bigger. They’re all impressive compared to Goren.”

“Wow, how apathetic! Keima does it again.”

Well, I actually have come here before. Not that I’m going to say that. And where do you get off on calling me apathetic?

“Anyway, let’s go to the nearby Adventurer’s Guild for now. There’s more than one here, just like in Corky. One in each cardinal direction, then one in the center of the city.”

“So there’s one near each gate, huh? Guess this will be the eastern Guild then.”

By the way, Misha was in the central Guild. We probably wouldn’t be meeting this time. P-Probably? I’m sure Misha realizes how problematic it would be for us to meet here.

“More important, Keima, is the food. Ichika, I say, what food do you like here?”

“I’m gonna have to go with some dairy stuff thanks to all the farms. The stew here is pretty dope.”

“Rokuko, the cheese here is pretty good too. Not everyone likes the smell, but the people who do really love it.”

“Oh, a recommendation from you, Roppe? Guess I’ll try eating the cheese. If I don’t like it, well, I’ll think about that if it happens.”

...Rokuko sure has been influenced by Ichika, huh? Not that I don’t get how she feels. “By the way, Rokuko, do you remember why we’re here?”

“I kinda forgot. Was this a road trip for eating all over the country?”

“Nope. Nooot at all. We got summoned here since we beat a Dragon.”

“Oh, right.”

That said, Rokuko wasn’t actually a member of the two parties that took down the Dragon. I’m sure Haku is planning something here.

“Unlike the other cities, we have actual stuff to do here. Wataru, what are our plans looking like?”

“Well. I showed our letter at the gate, so those involved should already have been informed of our arrival. They’ll probably contact us once we show up at the guild, so once we get there we can just go with the flow.” They would be preparing places to stay for us themselves. All we had to do was deliver our quest items, then wait for them to show up.

＊ ＊ ＊

We delivered our items, went to the Guild’s attached dining hall to wait, and then... she appeared.

“Yahoo! I’m here to get y’all, meow!”

“Oh, Misha. Thanks for coming.”

“Hey hey, Wataru. You sure are being worked to the bone again, huh? Come drop by whenever you want some more puurfect training from yours truly!”

Ah crap, it’s Misha. The dumb, pink, cat-eared A-Rank adventurer slash guildmaster Misha. And she seems pretty excited, too. Am I just screwed? Not knowing what else to do, I just played dumb.

“Hey, Wataru, who’s this Misha person? You should introduce us.”

“Huh? What’re you talking about, Keima? We’re tight now, we’re bros, we don’t need any introduc— Oh, wait, we do! Right, right! Oh right, how could I forget that I hadn’t met you before. It’s very nice to meet you, stranger.”

Misha kind of messed up beyond repair there, but yeah. She and I logically should never have ever met before. After all, I normally never left Goren, and Misha spent most of her time lazing around in the capital’s head guild office. There were no opportunities for us to meet. We ended up knowing each other through dungeon business, excluding that it would be bizarre if we knew each other.

“...Wait, you and Misha know each other, Keima?”

“Nope, this is our first time meeting. I dunno who this Misha is, but she seems like a real joker. We’ll definitely get along!”

“Agreed! This is our first time meeting, but it already feels like we’ve met several times before! Our friendship will last through the ages!”

“Indeed! I’ve never felt such friendship for someone at a first meeting before! Our friendship was ordained by fate! Yaaay!”

“Yaaay!”

We went ahead and high-fived. Hopefully that tricked him. I really hoped that tricked him. If it didn’t, we would just have to keep up the act until he caved.

“Well, let me introduce myself. I’m Keima, town chief of Goren. This is Rokuko. And here are my slaves, Kuro and Ichika.”

“I myself don’t need an introduction, but, uhh, these are my party members, Gozou and Roppe.”

“I say, I am Emmymephy Laverio! The royal will decrees that you call me Mephy, please.” Yeah, you didn’t need to introduce yourself.

“Uh-huh, uh-huh. I’m Misha. I run the imperial capital’s Adventurer Guild as its guildmaster. Nice to meet all of you!”

Alright, now there won’t be anything suspicious about us knowing each other’s names and faces. But since Wataru still looked suspicious, I leaned over to whisper into his ear.

“Wataru. Between you and me, Misha’s dropped by Goren once before. The thing is, she was undercover. I think you can imagine the rest. Don’t go telling anybody about this.”

“Ah, I get it. Makes sense.” Wataru nodded in understanding. Misha, having overheard me, gave a strong thumbs up.

Alright. Perfect. The best thing about this excuse is I can use it for all of Haku’s other party members too. They were all undercover and we had to pretend not to know each other. If it seemed like we knew each other, it’s because of that. There’s no holes here.

“Okay, let’s go! I’ll take the lead with my beast, so just follow along with your whole wagon!” Misha went outside the guild and climbed onto a lion with a seat on its back. And also wings, not to mention a snake for a tail. We got back into our wagon.

“Alright, Lady Rokuko, up here please.” Misha reached a hand out to Rokuko as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Misha. I’m just Rokuko right now. You don’t need to worry about that kind of thing.”

“...Ah. Sorry, I didn’t think things through enough.”

I glanced around. Wataru was unfazed, but Gozou and Roppe were nodding to themselves, coming to conclusions they thought it would be best not to say. Emmymephy tilted her head in confusion, but that was reasonable. The guildmaster herself calling somebody else “lady” was kind of a big deal. Not to mention her prioritizing Rokuko above everybody else. Including the imperial princess Emmymephy.

“Oh, do you want to ride then, Princess Mephy?”

“...I say, why would I ride when Rokuko wouldn’t?”

“Very true!”

Why are you agreeing with that? Read the mood a little, Misha.

“Okay, let’s go to the castle. Try not to fall too far behiiind.” Misha took the lead and started moving down the road. Her beast must have been pretty rare, given all the attention that was being drawn to it.

And she wanted Rokuko to ride that? Hmm. I’ve seriously got to question if Misha isn’t just dangerously incompetent. Almost everything she’s done since coming here has been wrong. Or maybe Haku actually instructed her to treat Rokuko better than the imperial princess? Yeah, nah. This is Misha we’re talking about.

As we followed along behind Misha, Team Bacchus started whispering to Rokuko, even though we were in a canopied wagon and there was no need to be secretive.

“Er, Rokuko. Should we start callin’ ye Lady Rokuko now?”

“Wha? I don’t think so, Gozou. It’s not really something you should worry about.”

“Yeah, I always just call her Rokuko!”

“Oh, Wataru, you can call me Lady Rokuko.”

Her being mean to just Wataru was probably me rubbing off on her. That’s my partner for you. And it’s fine, Wataru doesn’t mind it.

“Rokuko, I say, are you perhaps higher status than me?”

“What? You’re high status, Mephy? Did you perform some incredible feat I don’t know about?”

“I honestly did not expect you to start talking about incredible feats.”

Rokuko, that’s the imperial princess you’re talking about here. She’s high status even if she hasn’t done anything to deserve it.

Finally, we arrived at the imperial castle. Unlike Haku’s villa, it was surrounded by sturdy walls made of ashen gray stone, built for practicality more than appearances. Though if the day ever came that these walls were used, the war was probably already lost.

Thanks to Misha being at our helm, we were allowed into the castle without much issue. Actually, aren’t we still in a wagon with the Tsia family crest on it? Is that alright? It feels kind of like this will give the impression that they’re colluding with the Tsia family, but I guess in reality the royal family is on good terms with Tsia anyway.

Misha stopped after we entered the second gate of the city. We stopped our wagon in turn.

“Okaaay, stop the wagon there and everyone climb down, please. Errrm, I’ll be handing off my beast here, so... Oh, Sally. Good timing. Could you take my little cutie to his room, please? Thaaanks.”

“Misha, don’t shove the reins into my hand. Ah, Keima. It’s been some time.”

Oh crap, it’s Sally, the Living Armor captain of the Imperial Knights and one of Haku’s party members. Actually, should she be walking around in her armor like that? I guess it’s fine if nobody’s saying anything.

“Oh? You know Sally too, Keima?”

“...She’s one of Haku’s party members, so yeah. She’s been to Goren before too.” I went ahead and dropped the excuse I had thought of ahead of time. It was pretty convenient.

“Wataru. I’ve heard the reports. It is good to see that you safely rescued Princess Mephy.”

“Ah, well, it was mostly thanks to Keima’s help that it went so well.” Wataru gave a small bow. I had guessed from him and Misha knowing each other, but I guess Wataru did in fact personally know all of Haku’s party members. That’s probably thanks to him receiving quests directly from her.

“We shall train later when time permits. Do not forget to drop by the training grounds.”

“...You always come at me ready to kill when we’re training. It’s kind of scary, to be honest.”

“Is that way not more effective? Wataru the Hero needs that level of training.” Sally puffed out her chest (i.e. her plate armor) in a challenging fashion. She must be giving him some hellish training... Man, Wataru really is the protagonist of his own story, huh? He’s loaded with clichés.

“Relax, Sally. Can I purretty please ask you to go do a favor for me?”

“What? It takes courage to order around the captain of the Imperial Knights like that, Misha.”

“Awww, what? Aren’t we friends, Sally?” Misha started to rub her cheek against Sally, only to have her neck grabbed and pulled away.

“I have a message from Haku. Switch places with me, and cease making uncalled-for blunders. I imagine you went off the script and messed up in the process? Go back to the guild and do some of your guildmaster work or something. You have a lot of work built up, don’t you? I’m sure you do.”

“Ngh...! A-Alright, fiiine, I get it. Later, Keima! Let’s duel again sometime! I won’t lose this time!” Misha got back on her beast and energetically waved while leaving.

Is it even possible for her to say anything without fucking something up? Here comes Wataru with a smug comment.

“So you beat Misha too, huh, Keima? Even I can only beat her about half the time.”

“I beat her about the same way I usually beat you.”

“I would expect nothing less, Keima!”

“...Hm. How about you call me Lord Keima to patch with Rokuko’s Lady?”

“I would expect nothing less, Lord Keima!”

“Oh god, never mind, stop. That gave me actual goosebumps of disgust.”

“That’s pretty mean.” Wataru laughed, and Sally began guiding us into the castle.

...It’s finally time. It’s a bit late to be thinking this, but what’s actually going to be happening here? Should I be wearing my normal adventurer clothes? I thought, but instead of being taken to an audience chamber, we were brought to normal guest rooms.

“These are guest rooms for barons. There’s one for each of you, and you may stay here for the night. The audience and noble titles will be granted the day after tomorrow.”

“I say, very well then.”

“...Princess Mephy, please return to your room.” Sally stopped Emmymephy, who had been casually trying to go into Rokuko’s room.

“Errr. So the audience isn’t happening right away?”

“Keima... Do you think his highness the Emperor has that much free time? There have been so many sudden changes to his schedule and our plans that it is incredibly difficult for us to keep things on track. Even so, we are prioritizing your party’s audience. Do you understand, Keima?”

“Er. Yeah. Sorry, actually.” I reflexively apologized at the sight of Sally holding her aching head while grimacing.

“Wait, you said the Emperor?”

“Yes. His highness the Emperor. He is, as far as the public is concerned anyway, Haku’s descendant. Haku will of course be present at the audience, but it is best for us to confer peerage through the Emperor’s authority.”

Oh yeah, I get the feeling Haku is passing herself off as someone who spends most of her time in her villa. That would mean that even though she’s actually at the top of the food chain, the Emperor is an important figurehead. He’s kind of a for-show ruler, like how I’m just the town chief for show in Goren.

...Honestly, I just felt a lot of companionship for this guy. Though there’s a big difference between being a town chief and being an emperor.

“Not to mention, we will be spending tomorrow preparing clothes for you and teaching you all what to do during the audience. Prepare yourselves. Though you may feel free to rest easy for the rest of today.”

Oh, they’ll do the legwork to get us ready, too. I guess that’s actually why the audience is the day after tomorrow. Very considerate. I wish Misha could learn from this kind of consideration. And by that I mean have it ground into her skull.

“Would you like to eat in the dining hall? Or shall we have it delivered to your rooms?”

“Oh, I’ll take delivery, please.”

“Very well. I will pass the word. Maids will be sent soon, so please tell them anything you need. And do not wander around aimlessly. If caught wandering without permission, you will be arrested as spies. That will be all. Shall we go, Princess Mephy?”

“Oh fine, I say. Rokuko! I’ll sneak out and come to play later!”

Sally gave Rokuko a small bow, then dragged Emmymephy away, her armor clanking.

Gozou burst out a heavy sigh. “Guuuh. I thought me heart was gonna stop when the captain o’ the Imperial Knights started guidin’ us around...”

“You too, Gozou?” Roppe asked.

“The guildmaster was alright thanks to Keima, but this time was somethin’ else.”

Thanks to me? What’d I do...? Oh, right, the casual high five.

“Ye know, I’ve just gotta be glad they’re givin’ us time to prepare. Hey, Roppe, are ye gonna wear a dress?”

“Ahhh, I guess I might? And you’re going to be wearing a fancy outfit too, Gozou...”

The two of them imagined each other all dressed up, then grimaced a little.

“Don’t worry, it’s not that big of a deal! You won’t be executed for sneezing while the Emperor is talking or anything. Though you may be imprisoned,” Wataru said jokingly. Nobody laughed.

In any case, there were eight rooms, four on either side of a hallway. We just casually picked whichever we wanted. Not that there was any difference between them. Each had a futon, desk, and a pot. They were pretty basic rooms.

“Oh, this room’s mine. Keima, you go there, and Niku, you go to the very end one. Ichika can be on the other side across from us.”

“Okay.”

“You got it.”

For some reason, Rokuko decided on our rooms for us. Well, I don’t mind. Time to go to sleep.

I’m glad they have futons for beds here. Though honestly, there’s something impressive about that. Has Beddhism made its way all the way to the imperial capital...?

“Still, I’m surprised you’re staying with us, Rokuko. I thought for sure Haku would call you over to her villa.”

“Maybe she’ll call me over during the night.”

“It’s possible.”

Either way, after some rest that could hardly be called rest at all, we would spend a day preparing, and then it would finally be time for the audience. I’ll have to remember why I was called over before then! Haha, just kidding, I do remember. I-I do, I promise.

＊ ＊ ＊

We practiced what to do for a day, and then it was time for the audience.

The audience chamber was grand and magnificent. There were white pillars reminiscent of a temple lined up next to a lush red carpet. The carpet ended at three steps, upon which there was a golden throne with a handsome-looking middle-aged man sitting upon it. It was Lionel Laverio, Emperor of the Laverio Empire. Beside him stood the still young, still beautiful Ivory Goddess... Our own Haku.

We ourselves were wrapped in fancy garb, and we knelt on the carpet by the bottom step. I was at the front with Wataru and Rokuko on either side of me. Behind us were Gozou and Roppe, with Niku and Ichika at the very end.

Emmymephy was on top of the steps as well, with Sally the captain of the Imperial Knights standing slightly behind her as a guard. There were several government official-looking fellows, with at least one being a scribe writing everything down. That reinforced the fact this was an official audience, making things more tense than they might have been otherwise.

“You may raise your heads.”

“Sir.” I rose my head and looked at the Emperor as I had been thoroughly trained to do the day before.

“Keima Goren. You defeated a Flame Dragon. Is this correct?”

“It is correct, your highness. Please accept this gift,” I said while handing a scale and some chips of Igni’s claws to an official. (She had given us these to use as proof later. The scales had fallen off normally, and she had chipped her claws while grooming herself.) The official put them on a silver, probably mythril plate which he brought to Emperor Lionel.

The Emperor picked them up. For a bit he looked at them with great interest, letting out hrms and hohs, but quickly set them back down after Haku coughed.

“These are indeed the scales and claws of a Flame Dragon. Very well. To reward your efforts in relieving the Empire of such a menacing danger, and to reward your heroic rescue of Princess Emmymephy, I will be awarding you with the rank of baron. Your companions will be offered the rank of adventurer visad. Count Nishimi will be offered the gold reward he desires.”

“We are honored.”

Baron. That was the rank we expected ahead of time. Yeah, well... Most B-Rank adventurers are given the adventurer noble rank of visad, but since I was the head of the Dragon defeating party, my accomplishments were too great to reward with just the rank of visad. Not to mention we added saving Emmymephy on top of that.

This all regardless of the fact that Wataru was there too! Gozou and Roppe could have taken all the credit for rescuing Emmymephy, really. Why is all the credit being pushed onto me...? Gah!

The bottom tiers of noble ranks went like: adventurer visad, knight visad, plain visad, then baron, which made me three ranks above everyone else except Wataru. A commoner advancing up four noble ranks like that would apparently under normal circumstances come close to death two or three times.

...Also, as an aside, baron was a rank that could be inherited by your children. Hurray! My kids will be nobles too!

Since I was the only one who received a rank above plain visad, I alone went up to the Emperor and swore an oath of fealty before having him tap my shoulders with a jeweled sword. Yeaaah, this is definitely something a Hero introduced. I’ve seen this in manga and light novels all the time, I thought while accepting the sword.

Apparently, I just got to keep the sword. It was proof of being a baron, so I decided to hang it up in my office after getting back. It’s not like one of Haku’s Magic Blades with cameras on it or something, right? That blue gemstone in the hilt is just a stone, right?

Either way, the ceremony finished just as planned. All that was left was us leaving. There was no room for small talk in the Emperor’s audience chamber. Honestly, it made me wonder why I had been summoned all the way just for this. Couldn’t it have all been handled through a letter? I guess not.

“You may ask an official for more details, if you wish. Now, you may lea—”

“Okay, can I have a little time here? Yes, I can. Everything from here on out is off the record.” Haku interrupted the Emperor with a bright smile. Yep, here it is. Haku butting into things. I guessed this would happen the second I saw her in here.

Haku flicked her hand, and all the government officials left the room in a timely manner. Clearing the room, eh? I want to leave too, but I guess that’s not happening. Only us, Haku, the Emperor, Emmymephy, and Sally stayed in the audience chamber.

“Oh, relax. This is off the record and everything.”

It’s less that we’re not relaxed, and more that we all feel like something bad’s about to happen.

“Oh, my sweet little Rokuko,” Haku called, and Rokuko blinked in surprise. The script we had been given yesterday definitely didn’t mention this.

“Come on up, my dear.”

“Oh, okay.” Rokuko, having been casually called over by Haku the Ivory Goddess, climbed up the steps toward her. Whoa now. We were just told yesterday the steps reflect the divide in our status, remember? Why are you climbing them like they’re nothing? They’re not like the steps in our dungeon’s boss room that are just for show. They mean something.

And look, the Emperor is furrowing his brows like he’s thinking “Whaaaat...”, not to mention Emmymephy opening her eyes wide in surprise. This is definitely just Haku letting loose without warning. Definitely.

“Ahaha.”

“...Um. This wasn’t, erm, part of the plan, was it?” Rokuko asked not to Haku, but the person beside her. Uhhh, Rokuko, that’s the Emperor of this Empire you’re talking to. He’s a big deal, alright? He’s not some old man running a weapon shop. I mean, I guess it would be a big deal to ask Haku too, but still. Couldn’t you have at least asked Emmymephy or Sally?

“...I know as much as you do. Could you please explain, First Empress?”

“I say, I would like to know as well, First Empress.”

“Of course, of course. Gladly.” Haku put her hands on Rokuko’s shoulders and smiled. “Allow me to introduce you all to my little sister. Rokuko, this is Lionel. He’s just the Emperor, so call him whatever you like. Emmymephy, you already know.”

“...Umm, nice to meet you, Emperor Lionel? Mephy?”

“...Lady Rokuko, I am honored to meet you.”

“...............”

U-Uh, weeeird. Why is the Emperor calling Rokuko “Lady Rokuko”...? Is she higher status than hiiim? And look, Emmymephy is flapping her mouth. She can’t even get a word out.

Gozou and Roppe were nodding to each other, their suspicions having been confirmed. Ichika, Niku, and Wataru didn’t have much of a reaction. They all knew already.

“Um, Haku. Weren’t we keeping it a secret that I’m your little sister?”

“It’s okay, we’re off the record right now. I’m getting involved a little since there was a reasonable excuse to bring you over here. Listen well, everyone. Speaking a word of this to anyone will be considered an act of treason, understood?”

Everyone bobbed their heads nodding. Nobody wanted to be executed. Given that the Emperor was nodding too, it was safe to conclude Haku had him by the balls.

“Now then, Lionel.”

“...Yes?”

“Rokuko is my precious little sister. Do you understand?”

“...If you are asking me to offer her the throne, I will do so gladly.”

“Wrong.”

Wait, he would just gladly give up his throne? I wouldn’t want it even if he offered it to me. Seems like a busy job.

“I am telling you to make arrangements in her favor if anything is to happen. Understand?”

“...I would know to do that without the audience being interrupted in this manner, I think.”

“There are many officials who would not take kindly to me introducing her to you like this, Lionel.”

“Very true... I appreciate your consideration, First Empress.”

Oh, he’s agreeing with that? I would have thought Haku could just use her dungeon functions to sneak us into his bedroom... Oh. Wait, is she keeping her dungeon a secret from the Emperor? Seriously? The Emperor? He’s the top dog of the country as far as the people know. How could he not know about the dungeon... Isn’t he Haku’s descendant or something? I mean... Well, if he isn’t her Dungeon Master, I guess maybe it makes sense? The fewer people who know the better, but... the Emperor? No way... Maybe she’s only told him that the dungeon is under her complete control?

A single conversation was filling my head with dangerous questions. Thinking back, Sally had said that he was Haku’s descendant “as far as the public was concerned,” so maybe they weren’t blood-related at all? Maybe she just hasn’t told him everything? Given that he offered to hand over the throne on the spot, it was possible he was just a puppet she made to navigate politics.

Is she talking to Rokuko like this with people ignorant of the dungeon stuff like Wataru and Gozou around so that I can’t speak freely? So that there isn’t even an off chance of me spilling the beans to the Emperor? If so, dang, what a pain. I don’t want to deal with this. I hope I’m just misunderstanding something.

“Emmymephy, I certainly hope you haven’t been rude to my sweet little Rokuko.”

“O, O-O-O-O, Of course not, Empress! I say!” Emmymephy bowed with the blood draining from her face.

“I wonder about that.”

“Um, Haku? Mephy’s my friend, please don’t bully her too much.”

“If you insist, Rokuko.” Haku gave a refined laugh, and a little color returned to Emmymephy’s face. “In any case. That’ll be all for today. Those certain fellows will throw up quite a fuss if we stay here for too long. I hate to say goodbye, Rokuko, but I hope to see you soon.”

“Same to you, Haku. It’s always good to see my big sister,” Rokuko replied before casually jumping down the steps and walking back to us. “I’m back.”

Yeah, sure, I guess that’s just how you’re going to act now. Welcome back.

And so, despite some little mishaps, our audience with the Emperor ended safely. I-I think we’re safe, anyway?

＊ ＊ ＊

Rokuko and I were called to Haku’s villa after the audience. Or well, we were all invited, but out of politeness only I—now a baron—and Rokuko ended up going. Sally explained that despite everyone being called, it was expected that I be sent as a representative, and everyone quickly agreed with that. Though Niku looked a little reluctant to stay behind.

...If only I could stay behind too. Sadly, I don’t think that’s an option for me.

With that out of the way, Rokuko and I went to Haku’s Ivory Villa for the first time in a while. Her crossdressing Succubus butler Chloe greeted us at the door and guided us to her. In the blink of an eye we were having a fancy tea party in a garden. Well, I’m just glad I got a seat.

Though, judging by how Rokuko’s friend Emmymephy wasn’t here, I could guess that this was a personal tea party she was holding to talk about dungeon business.

“Finally, I could officially summon you to my villa.”

“Haku, I said this before, but it’s good to see you again.”

“Oh yes, I’m happy to see you again Rokuko. You too, Keima.”

“Thanks. Mind if I go ahead and ask a question?”

“What would you like to know?” Haku replied with a smile.

“...How much does the Emperor know?”

“Oh, is that all? Let’s see... I’ve told that boy that I’m a Dungeon Core, at least. And that this capital is all under my control.”

Oh. Guess I read too deeply into things. I expected her to have only told him the barest essentials.

“Though, as you have likely guessed, I haven’t told him about Dungeon Masters.”

“...I see.”

“Would you expect anything else? He is not my Master, and there is no benefit of informing him about the system,” Haku said before taking a sip from her cup.

“Wait,” Rokuko said. “Does that mean you wanted to hide Keima’s identity from the Emperor?”

Haku widened her eyes in surprise. I was surprised too.

“I mean, what else could it be? You introduced me as your sister, but you didn’t say anything in particular about Keima. You did that to draw attention to me and away from him, right?”

“...Did Keima tell you that?”

I rapidly shook my head. “Not at all. H-Hey, Rokuko. Did you eat something weird recently?”

“What? Don’t be a jerk, Keima.” Rokuko pursed her lips and looked away.

I thought back to the audience with Rokuko’s perspective in mind. I had probably been right that Haku didn’t want me saying anything unnecessary. But it hadn’t occurred to me that her objective there was to hide me.

“...Haaah. You truly have grown, Rokuko.”

“Well, I do have a lot going on in my head.”

“To think that you would one day see right through me, Rokuko. You’re right. I imagine Keima figured out the same thing, but yes. I wanted to hide his significance as much as possible.” Haku went ahead and confirmed Rokuko’s theory. Sorry, I didn’t actually figure that much out.

“Dungeon Masters are the most critically important secret we dungeons have. We cannot let knowledge of it leak to humans that aren’t our Masters. And yet, Keima, do you even realize how much attention you are drawing to yourself? I seem to recall you saying you didn’t want to stand out much, but your actions say the opposite.”

My black hair and black eyes signaled my Hero blood to anyone paying attention. I was successfully developing a growing town, I was the pope of a new church supported by the Ivory Church, and on top of all that I was now a Dragon-defeating legend. Not to mention that I even rescued a princess recently... Apparently, some were discussing treating me like a Hero and elevating me to the S-Rank adventurer, granting me the rank of Count, and holding a parade in my honor.

But Haku had used her authority to crush all those plans without mercy. Thank you! I owe you my life!

“Interesting. And you squashed the suspicion over that by telling the Emperor I’m your little sister. You’re using me as an excuse, right? That you don’t want to make Keima seem like a bigger deal than me?”

“Oh, don’t be mean, Rokuko. That’s just secondary. My main priority here was not exposing you to the public light, my dear.”

“Is that true, sister?”

“It’s true. Oh, would you like a berry tart? They’re quite delicious.” Haku held out a tart for Rokuko to eat, which she did while pouting a little.

...What in the world? Rokuko is dominating Haku in a conversation...? Seriously? I think at this point, Rokuko may actually have surpassed me.

Oh, but I did notice one thing myself.

“...You don’t want me to stand out because I’m easier to eliminate that way, right?”

“Oh my, what an idea. Ahahaha.”

She’s not denying it. I’m spooked.

“...Haku, you won’t actually kill Keima, right?”

“I won’t, as long as he remembers his place.”

“He’s my partner. You can’t touch him, okay?”

“He’ll be safe as long as he’s not my enemy.”

Excuse me, I have some extremely important questions as to what makes you consider someone your enemy.

“By the way, Rokuko. I imagine you’re calling him your partner rather than your Master to hide his identity as your Dungeon Master, correct?”

“What? No, not really.”

“Oh. I see.”

Oh shit, was that it? Am I her enemy now? I just felt a shudder run down my spine, and I’m pretty sure that’s her raw killing intent hitting me.

Haku took a silent sip of her tea. “So, Keima. What are your thoughts on this?”

“...I don’t intend to fight you. I would like our cooperation to continue.”

“I see. May I take that to mean what I think it does?”

“Sorry, that could mean so many things I can’t be sure we’re on the same page. At the very least, I won’t do anything Rokuko doesn’t want me to.” I took my own sip of tea. If touching Rokuko would make me Haku’s enemy... I would probably have to start considering Haku an obstacle to take down. After all, Rokuko being kidnapped along with Emmymephy taught me that, apparently, I couldn’t relax without Rokuko around anymore. Even with Haku implicitly threatening my life here, I didn’t feel like giving her up for even a second.

“...If Rokuko insists, I will, shall we say, ‘bend over backwards’ to accommodate her wishes. You may hold hands— Erm, very well, you may even hug. Anything more than that... Well, you didn’t like the rich loli from the Tsia family, and Emmymephy’s status didn’t sway you, so we might be at an impasse.”

“So you were trying to set me up with those two, huh?”

“Whatever do you mean? I merely received reports on the matter.” Haku played dumb, but it was obvious both of them had been honey traps. Too bad! I completely ignored both of them!

“Oh, I have an idea. How about I take you to one of those stores and cover the cost? There are many of those in the imperial capital.” Haku gave a smile. Should you be talking about that kind of thing in front of Rokuko?

“...Well, I care more about sleep than that kind of thing. And I think Rokuko wouldn’t want me to go somewhere like that. Right, Rokuko?”

“Keima...! Well, Haku. What do you mean by those stores? Can I tag along with Keima?”

Both Haku and I choked at the same time. If she was saying that on purpose, I had to admire her guts. Though judging by the expression on her face, she really just didn’t know.

“Keima...” Haku said, a scary look in her eyes.

“Hold on. This isn’t my fault.”

“...Th-That is true. I walked into this myself. And I have just remembered that there are quite a few things I will need to teach Rokuko. Which brings me to my next topic. Rokuko, shall we bathe together later? I have much to teach you while we’re there.”

“Hm? Okay.”

Why teach her in the bathroom...? Well, there’s probably no deep reason to this. Should be safe to say she’s just trying to be efficient with her time by doing both at once. Not wanting to come into conflict with Haku right away, I decided not to press further. Whew.

“In any case, it’s finally time. I can now openly treat you as my little sister, Rokuko. Although only when off the record.”

“Is it really openly if it has to be off the record?”

“I ensured that the nobles would overhear the announcement.”

Ah, she claimed it was off the record, but intentionally let the nobles know about it. What a fearsome mix of being public and private information. Things being unofficial open up a lot of opportunities, like hentai of copyrighted works.

“That said, I imagine that Lionel doesn’t truly believe that Rokuko is truly my little sister.”

“Oh? Really, sister?”

“I would expect that he concluded you were not my sister, but just someone special who had drawn my attention. That is technically true, since all Dungeon Cores are technically my brothers and sisters, but still.”

Oh yeah. All Dungeon Cores were born from Father, so Ittetsu (Core 112), Aidy (Core 666), and the idiot trio were all Haku’s little brothers and sisters. If she treated each one of them like humans treated their blood relatives, there’d be no end to her family.

“Of course, you are the only one I would ever treat as my little sister, Rokuko.” Haku said while stroking Rokuko’s head.

Rokuko’s mood improved on the spot and she beamed a proud smile. “Well, this is fine with me too. Now I can safely call myself your little sister, Haku.”

“That’s right. It’s off the record information, but the Emperor knows who you are now. Use my name when you need to, okay?”

“Okay!”

While the two of them giggled and laughed and hugged, I took a sip from my freshly poured cup of tea. These tarts sure are good. Oh, do you mind if I bring some back with me? One of my party members sure loves to eat.

Ahaha. I sure love these peaceful days.

...Yeah, yeah. Something’s gonna happen in no time, I know. At least let me enjoy one day of peace. Please, God. I’ll even be a hypocrite to ask for your help just this once. Hah.