122-Chapter 7-10 Rewards

The meal was over and each person was enjoying their after-dinner tea when the king suddenly remembered and opened his mouth.

He said, "I forgot about it. Temma, come back to the castle tomorrow or the day after tomorrow. You'll be dressed for the occasion!

I was wary of the king when he spoke like this, as it was usually not a rogue thing to do.

'Well, don't be alarmed. For what we've done so far, as a royal family, we forgot to formally reward Temma, so we'll just give it to him before we leave the royal capital.''

I appreciate the offer, but no thanks.　

I heard the king's words and declined without a pause.

The king looked a little surprised when he was told he didn't want it before he could finish his words. As expected, this is too rude, and just when I was beginning to regret it a bit, I heard a laugh from next to the king, wondering if the king would be angry.

''You, as expected, I will refuse Temma in that way. The way you cut it out when dealing with the usual nobles, you'd think they'd give you a fief or a title as a reward, and Temma has long said he doesn't want such things.''

Mmm....　

The king, who was softly chided by Maria, looked a little embarrassed and scratched his cheek.

''I'm sorry I refused without hearing the end of your story. If it's not a fiefdom or a title, then what is the reward?''

If it's the way the king just said it, it's usually a fiefdom or a title, but if it's not, is it some kind of gold and silver treasure? As for me, I'd rather have a rare metal like the baboon cane than something like that, but...

Hmm. The reward for Temma is a family name and family crest!

I was a little surprised by this reward. However, it was not the family name that surprised me, but the family crest. As for the family name, it's not that unusual, as it's given to adventurers who have been active enough to catch the eye of a high-ranking noble, or it's something that powerful merchants and others have to distinguish themselves from other traders. In the extreme, there's no particular problem with ordinary people calling themselves that. Well, it seems to be unusual for a person to be recognized by the royal family and be given a name, as is the case here.

However, the family crest is different from the family name. This one is stored in the royal castle's records room, so it is not possible to make one's own family crest. Those who have a family crest are powerful or historic nobles (smaller or newer nobles more often than not don't have one), those who have contributed greatly to the country, or those who have made extraordinary achievements. However, since the latter two examples usually become noblemen as soon as they receive the family crest, it is safe to say that few ordinary people have them. It is safe to assume that those who do have it are the descendants of those who did not become nobles in the two examples.

Since Temma doesn't seem to want to be a nobleman, I hope he'll at least accept this. This is what I ask of you as king.

The fact that he went out of his way to say the king means that he's going to make me accept it at all costs. I'm not going to be the only one who has a problem with it, but I'm not afraid to accept it, if I decide that it's something that will show that the royal family has given me a reward, and I don't mind receiving it. If I accept this reward, it will show that I'm on good terms with the royal family, and if I don't accept it, people will think I'm disrespecting the royal family and making fun of them, and my reputation will decline. It's a good thing that the name of the royal family will not be harmed in either case.

''That's a pretty bad move.

We need to show him what a king looks like from time to time.　

My sarcasm is met with a hateful smugness on the king's face. This is a complete defeat for me.

"I will be grateful for the prize.

Mmm!

I kneeled ostentatiously and thanked him, and the king nodded his head with a great deal of pride. But it was frustrating to leave him beaten, so when I stood up.

It's not a reward, but I would like to offer you a pudding for dessert after dinner. However, I don't want His Majesty to get sick from what I've offered him, so I'll have Mr. Cleife, the poisoner, check on His Majesty's portion.

I'm sorry, sir.　

Before the king could say anything, before I knew it, Mr. Cliffe, who had come right behind me, held out his hand to me. Even though it was something I had expected, I was a little, or rather quite surprised by his sudden appearance, but I handed the king's portion of pudding to Mr. Cleif-san as if nothing had happened.

'You all can have some too.'

'No, Temma, my "Thank you brother! Pudding "Thank you, Temma-san," is....

As I handed the pudding to everyone while ignoring the king's words, the pudding disappeared when it went to everyone except the king.　

''Then let me have a look at the poison......................Mmm, this is not right! It's poison to Your Majesty! So I will take responsibility and let this me handle it!

Cliffe! What is poison! Give it back! My pudding, "Thank you for dinner, Temma-sama." ooh.....

The king tried to take the pudding from Mr. Cliffe, but Mr. Cliffe quickly but elegantly ate all of the pudding while ducking the king's hand with a flutter. The moment the container of pudding was empty, the king fell to his knees on the floor with no strength, as if he had broken down crying.

''You're so disgusting,''

Then I'll have your pudding... "Thank you for the food.

Maria ate the remaining pudding quickly and elegantly the moment she realized that the king had spotted her pudding.

Seeing this, everyone hurriedly ate their respective puddings, thinking it would be a disaster if the king caught their attention. With the exception of two people, it was only elegantly done.

The king thought that everyone had finished their pudding and was about to sit down in a chair without effort when he noticed that some of them still hadn't touched their pudding.

'Zain, if you don't want it, it's for me!

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty. This is a gift for my wife........she was looking forward to this dinner party, but because she is not in the best of health, she has decided to be absent in tears. So I wanted to at least let her eat this dessert...

Master Zain pretended to wipe his eyes and told them why he was leaving the pudding behind and said, "If His Majesty still needs it, I will be happy to offer it to you. My wife would be happy if His Majesty would enjoy it too," he said with an exaggerated gesture, and everyone looked at the king in unison. Of course, they are only teasing you, but Luna, who did not seem to understand the situation, held out her container with a little bit of pudding left in it to the king.

'Grandfather, you can have mine, and let your aunt eat the pudding!

He said. And with tears in her eyes........if this Luna's behavior is an act, then I'm quite worried about her future.

With these words of Luna, the king gave up on the pudding (by Maria-sama's cold gaze to be exact) and sat back down in his seat quietly.

''Well, let's leave this man out of it... Temma, about the family crest, you're allowed to use a special dragon. Normally, this would only be allowed for families close to the royal family, but in the case of Temma, since he has defeated the dragon twice and also used it, it's a special case. Well, it's not like there haven't been examples in the past, so it's not like it's an exception to the rule. You decide on the design yourself, and submit it to the royal family once. Well, as long as you don't use the dragon and lion, which is the family crest that symbolizes the royal family, there shouldn't be much of a problem.

It's a pretty outlandish explanation, but it would be a problem if it resembled other nobles, especially powerful ones. It's not easy to find a dragon, but even so, there are animals and patterns that symbolize the aristocracy, so even if they are similar, you need to think of a reason not to make a problem of it, or come up with something that doesn't look like them at all. It's a surprisingly, or rather troublesome thing to do.

And those three things represent me right now.

The more I thought about it, the more troublesome it became, so I decided to make the dragon look like Solomon, and add Shiroumaru (wolf) and Slurin (slime) to it. Other noblemen may have used the wolf, but it was decided that no other nobleman would use the slime as their family crest. I'm sure the people who know me will be convinced by these three, and even noblemen who already use wolves will not be able to say they are imitating me if I tell them that I used them because I myself use wolves as my family members.　

''For someone who says it sounds troublesome, you're quick to decide... well, all right. There are several family crests that use the wolf, but there is no use of it at the same time as the dragon, and moreover, there should be no one I know of that uses slime as a family crest. I don't think there will be any complaints from anywhere. So now all that's left is the design, do you have any ideas?

The king, who had recovered from the pudding shock, asked in an amused voice. Maria and everyone else seemed to be the same, with a curious look on their faces. I'm sure you'll be able to find the same shape as the one used in the royal family crest, so you can't change the shape of it.

Well, the dragon is placed in the upper right corner, and the wolf is placed diagonally across the lower left corner of the dragon, and the circle that represents the slime in the form that encompasses the two. In the center of this circle, between the dragon and the wolf, we place another small circle. It's the core of the slime. How about this one?

I roughly write down my thoughts on a piece of paper. I didn't think too hard about it, I just put the slarin' in place, but I think I've done a rather good job of it. In fact, I'm going to decide on this one, even if people say it's strange.

'I think it's good! And it's easier to understand when you're my brother!

Luna, who loves Solomon, was the first to agree, and everyone else followed suit. The main reason for agreeing to it was because, as Luna said, it was easy to understand. It's important for the new family crest to be associated with the person who will be using it, so my idea is, in a sense, an ideal one.

The design is good, and it doesn't look out of place with the others, so there's no problem. It's not a problem because the design is good and it doesn't conflict with any other ideas. You can choose from among them.

It is said that there is a department in the castle that handles registered family crests, and one of the department's duties is to create a family crest. Those who are allowed to have their own family crests can choose to create them themselves or ask the department to create them for them, so they don't have to worry about sharing their family crests with other nobles.

By the way, many people who create their own crests are very stubborn, and sometimes they become so disciplined that they don't know their exact crests, so they end up going back to the department several times to check and correct them. It seems that this may be the reason why lower class aristocrats and commoners, who have to go through complicated and time-consuming procedures to enter the castle, tend to simplify their family crests. Instead of a circle and a ten, a batten in a circle.　

Please. It would be better to leave that to the professionals.

As I'm not artistic enough to do detailed designs, I would welcome a department that would do it as long as they have an idea.

But aside from dragons and wolves, the people in the department might be surprised to hear that you're going to be using slime as your family crest. As expected, I don't think anyone would make fun of you for asking who it belongs to.

People who only know ordinary slime would certainly be surprised. That's how weak slime is.......with a few exceptions.　

''I did a little research on that, and it seems that in terms of the percentage of slime types, the weaker slimes are actually less of a type in themselves.

The words are Tida's. With those words we wait for Tida to continue. Although she was a little embarrassed that everyone was paying attention to her, Tida took some time to organize the conversation in her mind and began to continue.

I've heard that slime can be roughly divided into ordinary slimes, slimes with special abilities and slimes that can use magic, ordinary slimes are the ones you see often and their different colors, and slimes with special abilities are the ones that have various poisons and can create strong acids inside their bodies, and those with magic. What you can use is what it means as it is. Special abilities are often found in poisonous slime, and the poison varies from ordinary poison to bleeding poison, paralyzing poison, hallucinogenic poison, and so on, and some of them are compound poisons that have the effects of several poisons. One theory is that there may be as many poisons as there are in the world. It is said that just like poison, some magic has only a single attribute and others have multiple attributes.

It is said that they are the most common. Moreover, since each of them has its own subspecies, they are also, in a sense, the most numerous types of monsters.

Then, Slarin must be a 'subspecies of slime that can use magic'. Or 'a sub-species of slime with multiple special abilities'.

"You are learning fast, Tida. There's a big difference from two generations ago.

Grandpa, who knows about the king's past, said teasingly.

'Tida is like Maria, she can study...'

I said. He seems to be taking his past reflections into account. Maria-sama also nodded with satisfaction after hearing the answer.

Tida looked a little happy because her grandfather had given her a passing grade.

''So, do you think of your own family name as well?''

'No, this one is to be given to me by me to decide. And I have already decided on the family name to be given to Temma. I'm sorry to Temma, but since I (the king) will give him the name of the family I will give him directly, he cannot change it, even if he dislikes it. At that time, you don't have to use it unless it is absolutely necessary to use it.

Well, that's just as it should be. I'm sure it's the same as it was given to me directly by the king, and I'm not going to change it based on my own feelings. It's a good idea to have a name for the family that I wouldn't like, since it's attached to Maria-sama. However, it's okay according to Maria's standards, so there's still a small chance of a house name that I wouldn't like.

So in the small amount of time it took for the king to announce that family name, my heart was beating a little faster.

'Temma, the family name I'm giving you is 'Ootori'. From now on, you may call yourself Temma Ootori. Of course, you don't have to use it if you don't like it.

I haven't heard my family name in my previous life in fifteen years, and it makes me feel nostalgic.

I am grateful for that family name. Therefore, I ask that you allow me to inscribe the family name and family crest on my parents' graves.

This 'Ootori' name was given to me personally, so I decided to ask for permission to let my spouse and children use it, but I thought it was too subtle to use it for my parents.　　

'That's a given. Naturally, I'll be pissed if you don't inscribe it.　

'Yes. It's the family name I gave you, so you can do what you want with it. I'm sure Shelia and the others will be very pleased.

The king and Mary agreed with me.

"Then may I take on the name of Otori?

My grandfather would ask me about it, too, and he'd be very reserved.

Of course, Grandpa.

He looked very happy when I replied.

And, Temma," he said, "the family name 'Ootori' is similar to 'Audrey'. The family name "Otori" is like my "Audrey", and I'm sure there will be some prying eyes. And when that happens, we will be here to help.

When Master Ernest said this, Grandpa's face instantly turned alert.

What do you think you're doing?

I'm not planning anything! I'm just saying that we are responsible for giving you the family name and that you should come to me if you need anything!

The two of them fight all the time, but like Grandpa said, I don't think Master Ernest is up to something, and I'm sure he's not wrong. At least, I don't think he's saying it with entirely good intentions alone.

'No matter what you think of the way he says it, it's suspicious!

What?

Leaving the two of them alone as usual, I looked at the other faces who would have known the meaning of Master Ernest's words. When I stared at them with zit eyes, the king's face was slightly drawn up.

I was about to focus my aim on the king when

It's nothing to be concerned about, it's just a matter of letting the other noblemen think that the royal family and the Temma are connected, as usual. It's a good idea to make people think that the other noble families are connected to the Temma, and in return, they say, 'If the idiots give you trouble, just tell us and we'll take care of the problem.

The kings looked surprised at Lyle-sama's simple revelation, but Lyle looked at them and said

'It's a little late for that, isn't it? I'm sure you'll find that since the royal family (us) and Temma are going to be in a relationship, there will be a certain amount of use involved, so it's better for both of us not to hide it. These things get sullied because you try to hide them in a strange way.

He said.

Hearing Lyle-sama's words, the king and Maria looked a little bummed out.

You're right. Temma, I'm sorry.

'Well, it wasn't the kind of thing a parent would do to say he was like a son and then try to take advantage of him unilaterally. I'm sorry, Temma.

They both bowed together and apologized to me. In that vein, the king suggested that we should not give them the family name.

''No, I have received your apology and I've heard the reasoning behind it and it makes sense. To put it bluntly, it's not much different from what I've been doing, and I'll be grateful for the family name.

And I decided to get the name of Ootori as it is. It seems that the gods originally reincarnated me as Tenma Ootori (Houtenma), but I didn't need a family name when I was living in Kukri village, and even after I went on my journey, I was just a tenma, so I honestly forgot about half of the Ootori name.

To be honest, I'm not that attached to the Ootori name right now, but if my dad and mom (and my grandpa) are allowed to use it, I'll take it no matter what.

The only connection between me and my dad and mom now is that we were father and son, and that's on the level of 'people who know'. It's a good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to do with it, but it's also a good idea to have a good idea of what you're going to do with it.

That's why I want to carve the name "Ootori" on their graves, so that people who don't know us can understand that we are parent and child. I know it's completely self-satisfying, but I still wanted to create a new bond between my mom and dad.

'So, what do you want me to do the day after tomorrow?'

At first I was thinking of asking you to come to the castle to tell us that the royal family gave you the family name and crest as a reward, so that it would remain in the castle's official papers, but the design of the family crest was almost decided in an unexpectedly short period of time, and I'd like to announce it formally, preferably in front of the castle's senior officials. It's going to be a last-minute decision, but I'll send the design of the family crest to the department right away and have them prepare several different patterns before noon tomorrow. If there is a design among them that Temma likes, he will officially adopt it and cleanse it from there. But there was no need to compromise if there wasn't one that Temma liked. At that point, you can postpone the announcement, or you can just give him the family name first.　

He says it's important to announce it anyway. The royal family gives out the family name and family crest as a reward and I receive it in an official capacity. If you write it down in a document, it ends with that sentence, but when the words 'in front of the vassals' are added to it, the situation changes a bit.

The most common overlords in the castle are the royalists, but there are still some neutrals and reformers to some extent. When they see and hear the exchange between me and the king directly, the conversation will automatically spread to their faction mates. In other words, it seems that me and the royalist faction have strengthened the relationship. That's probably what Maria-sama meant by 'one-sided use'.

It's really a new thing. I'd rather he came to my house in a carriage and was free to relax in my living room than worry about such things.

While talking to the King about such things, we began to make arrangements for the day after tomorrow.

I heard that the busiest people were the members of the family crest management department who had come to give the king his orders, and since the order came directly from the head of the country, they mobilized all of their staff to work on the job, since they were short on time.

One of the few saving graces was that I had already decided on the most troublesome part (the main design of the family crest) and left the other parts to them.