LIGHTNOVELONLINE Chapter 54: The white king
A week has passed since the empires attack.
Banquets had been held all over the capital and everyone was in a festive mood. The same could be said for the Ecarlat household, to celebrate Toa, Nem, and Sierras safe return; they hosted parties on a daily basis.
“Hello, hero.”
“Huh? Ah, Hello.”
I guess this is me now, even though I’m just going to the guild, people I don’t know called out to me in greeting. Even Toa and Sierra were kept busy waving. Nem however was shy and chose to hide behind me.
“Oh! Hey everyone it’s the hero!”
Yogi greeted me from a top a table while holding a beer mug. Thanks to this, the towns people had also taken to calling me hero. It made it hard for me to go places that I wanted, even though I came to the guild I spend most of my time in the Ecarlat garden.
“Yogi, I’m begging you, stop calling me that.”
“What it’s fine isn’t it? Come on, I’ll buy you a Raz beer.”
Raz beer is a floral smelling beer, a specialty of this country.
Yogi soon returned with a Razbeer in each hand. I like alcohol and had been drinking every night recently. Many adventurers started drinking at Noon and ended up involving the entire guild in it. Although it wasn’t just the adventurers, the entire town reeked of alcohol.
“We’ve got snacks too, what about those two girls? I’ll get juice for the cat girl as well.”
“I’m not cat girl! My name is Nem!”
“Oh I see, I see. Nem was it? My bad.”
Nem took the red juice from Yogi and was guided to a seat. I had originally planned on accepting a quest today but what a guy.
“Is this all you do these days?”
I sat down at my usual seat with alcohol in one hand and juice in the other.
“The whole country was saved! Isn’t obvious that we should celebrate?”
“What would have happened if you hadn’t come Masamune? Everyone had already accepted defeat, so it can’t be helped right? The partying shall continue!”
Sierra was pouring herself a second glass of razbeer as she said this.
“Sierra, what about your job? Is it okay for a knight to drink so early in the day?”
“Its not a problem, Reinhardt drank yesterday.”
“Whoa! Knight lady, you can drink!”
Sierra blushed and feeling a sense of burning rivalry Toa began to drink with determination. Meanwhile Nem appeared to be drunk on juice.
Since the war the amount of requests have been low as everyone had been spending their time drinking and partying. But I don’t have the same pride as the adventurers, I don’t blame them for having it though. It’s good that their happy, I’m just not comfortable being in a place with lots of people for too long. I don’t hate the liveliness but after a few minutes I left as usual.
*
I drank razbeer alone in a small bar. Because it wasn’t well known I only ever saw a few regulars here and there. But today it was quiet as nobody else was here.
“It’s empty today isn’t it.”
I talked to the barkeep but as usual there was no response. Just some unknown music playing from a magic tool. A man entered, he come over and sat down to the right of me, ordering a whiskey.
“Just you again?”
“Hm? Ah, yeah, it’s hard to breath out there.”
“So that’s why you always come here.”
“Yeah, there’s never that many people here….. sorry.”
I apologized to the barkeep.
“So the hero is shy, must be tough being an adventurer. Although with your prestige you could have anything you wanted.”
I took a drink of beer.
“You knew?”
“It would be strange if I didn’t know. You’ve been coming here quite often.”
“Are you a regular here?”
“My name is Arnold, I used to come here quite often when I was an adventurer. I can’t come too often anymore but I still visit. Barkeep, his drinks are on me.”
“Huh?”
“Your drinks are on me Nito, after all, it’s why I reserved the bar today.”
“Reserved?”
I looked around the shop confused, when suddenly the name Arnold struck a chord.
“Barkeep, get him a whiskey please.”
“Arnold… you’re not an adventurer at the moment are you?”
“Nah, I’m the king now.”
“K, the king!?”
“Sorry, Reinhardt said you wouldn’t accept an audience with me.”
“So you reserved the bar?”
I checked the barkeeps face but he seemed to be the same as usual.
“Should I call you Nito or Masamune? You can rest assured that nothing said will leave this place.”
“You can call me Nito.”
So you’ve seen through me?
“Well then Nito, I would like to give you a medal. Well, and a title, money, status, honor. However it was suggested by Reinhardt that I find out what you would prefer. So I set up this meeting, now please do not hesitate, what Is it that you would like from me as king?”
I was troubled by the question, I’d have no use for a medal once I leave here and wouldn’t know what to do with a title. Furthermore I have money.
“Its a reward for repelling the empires attack correct?”
“That’s right, if I fail to reward the hero that saved my country then I have failed as a king. So, whatever you want, all you have to do is ask.”
“….I don’t need money…. Oh! I mentioned it to Reinhardt but, could you make the name Masamune disappear?”
“Fuuuh, you don’t need money.. Just like what Reinhardt said, even so erasing a name is a strange request.”
“If at all possible I’d ask that you don’t look too far into it, but if the term “Masamune the hero” spreads it could cause trouble for me.”
“I see, well then I’ll see what I can do about it. But is that all you wanted?”
“Uhm, in that case there are a few things I’d like to know.”
“Go ahead and ask.”
“I’m looking for attack magic that can be used by healers. Is that a thing? I tried looking it up at the Royal Library, but I didn’t understand much.”
I remembered what Susan had said and tried going to the library a few days ago. Although I seemed to have forgotten that I couldn’t read this countries script.
“Oh right, Nito is a healer huh. I’m sorry but I’ve never heard of any magic like that. As far as I know a healers magic specializes in healing. I’ve never heard of there being an exception.”
“I…see.”
“Sorry, but if you go to a magic school they might know something? Halekuwait higher magic academy isn’t far from here. My son’s enrolled there and it’s one of the three big magic schools.”
Oh yeah, Zephyr told me I should attend a school as well. Apparently its a common thing for mages.
“The school has books and information that you can’t find anywhere else. I don’t know if you’ll find any of it useful but I’ll write you a recommendation letter. I know the director.”
“Then please do, I’ll stop by there on my way.”
“Understood, and if you meet my son please try and get along with him. Now that that’s finished, I have something else I would like to talk about, may I?”
“Go ahead.”
“I know it’s sudden but, would you allow Sierra to accompany you when you leave?”
“Hilda said the same thing.”
“In that case this will be quick. Myself, Reinhardt, and all the other knights have agreed to it.”
“Does Sierra know?”
“I haven’t told her yet. I originally planned to tell her in-between meetings today.”
“Is that really OK though? For me to take away a white knight? ”
“The white knights were originally established as the kings guard. They were never meant to fight on the front lines. But above all, I trust Reinhardt’s opinion. So there’s no problem if she goes with you.”
“In that case I don’t have a problem with it. But please ask Sierra and allow her to make the final decision, I don’t want her to be forced into this.”
“I’ll let her know.”
We sipped put whiskey for a while in silence before I was able to think of something else I wanted to know.
I wanted to know about Oliver Joe.
I came across his letter in Tanya village a while back and according to Sierra he was the former captain of the ash squad.
“Arnold, there’s one more thing I wanted to ask, can you read this?”
“What is it? A letter?”
Yeah, it’s Oliver Joe’s letter.”
The kings expression grew sad as he read the letter.
“I heard from Reinhardt that Oliver Joe had died. ”
“He seemed to have a grudge against the country, you in particular. If it’s difficult to talk about then, you don’t have to.”
“Oliver was the captain of the ash squad.”
Arnold sipped his whiskey as he talked about the countries tragic past.