CH 169

"Departure"

Translated by Dawn

“Departure”

“I think it might be time to return to Schells.”

I unintentionally voiced those thoughts. It hadn’t been that long since I got here, but perhaps it was a reaction to becoming fed up with the situation due to the numerous problems that have occurred.

The title of being the first person in the history of this world to hold multiple Mithril First Class Medals spread not only throughout Saverdales but also to other countries in an instant. As a result, a messenger from the King of Schells Kingdom appeared with a message saying, “Come for an explanation.” However, I wrote a brief note on a piece of paper, saying, “It happened naturally. I have no regrets,” and used Conversion Magic to send that paper to the King’s office. It should be fine.

It had been about a week since that eventful audience, and people were still only talking about me, the holder of multiple Mithril First Class Medals who defeated the Manticore.

Fortunately, my identity hadn’t been revealed, so I could still wander around the capital. However, it became an indescribable feeling when I heard people discussing my own story here and there.

During that week, various events took place after the audience. Parties were held every night to celebrate this achievement, and there seemed to be one tonight as well.

Naturally, as the guest of honor, I couldn’t avoid attending, and although I was somewhat forced to attend the first few times, I could pretty much guess what was going on.

In addition to wanting to get close to me as the hero who saved their country, the noble women who witnessed the infamous sermon during the audience targeted me in another sense. This resulted in disputes revolving around me.

Especially notable was Margherita Duchess, who directly received my sermon. According to hearsay, she was still young, only twenty-four years old, and although she looked good, her personality was lacking. As a result, she was disliked by other noble families.

Therefore, until this age, she had never experienced a proper romantic relationship and was what you would call an innocent woman. That being said, as a noble, she had sworn her future to someone before, and it seemed she had been engaged several times.

However, despite her physical beauty, her personality was not very pleasant, and for some reason or another, the engagements were broken off by the other party.

If it had happened once, it might have been due to some circumstances, but if it continued to happen multiple times, many people believed that there must be valid reasons behind it. Since then, there have been no discussions of marriage, let alone engagements.

“What did I do wrong?”

“Isn’t it because you’re too self-centered?”

In the past few conversations, I discovered what could be considered Margherita’s flaw. It was that she didn’t listen much to what others said. She was the type of person who only talked about what she wanted to talk about and didn’t pay much attention to the other person’s words. Even if I brought up a topic, she immediately switched to another topic.

And if I engaged with that topic, she quickly changed it again, and we couldn’t have a proper conversation.

“Listen, if you want someone to like you, you should start by genuinely listening to their story. There will be things you want to talk about, but don’t forget that the other person also wants to talk to you.”

“Ye-yes!”

And so, with that kind of feeling, I gave her some advice, but who knows how things will turn out?

There were other noblewomen who approached me, as well as discussions about potential marriage arrangements with my relatives, but most of those matters were handled by Alicia and her daughters, Alesta and Anastasia.

I didn’t know if it was because of that incident, but Alesta, who had been so provocative before, now seemed meek and obedient, like a love-struck maiden. I couldn’t help but feel a sense of unease in the way she looked at me as if there were heart-shaped symbols in her eyes. I hope it’s just my imagination.

As for Anastasia, she had always been friendly towards me, so there were no issues. However, I felt that she too was making subtle advances toward me, though not as obvious as Alesta.

It took about a week for the fervor of these noblewomen from the Saverdales Duchy to subside, and I was finally freed from their advances. Mentally exhausted, I decided to leave the country for a while and visit my base to see how things were going. …It’s not like I’m running away or anything, okay?

First, I teleported back to my home in Orargrand. By the way, I’d been coming back to my house from time to time, but I hadn’t had a chance to thoroughly check it, so it was still largely untouched.

“I’m home.”

“Mrr!”

The artisan golems who were present raised their hands in response to my greeting. Since then, my skill “Inorganic Life Creation” had leveled up, allowing me to incorporate an AI-like system that gave these golems a simple form of self-awareness. They could now respond properly, even though their cries were still peculiar. The artisan golems had continued production even after I left for the Saverdales Duchy, and they had amassed quite a stock of goods.

I’d given Greg a part of my storage connected to a bag, so he could sell the items the golems produce through that bag. However, it seemed that the supply was about to catch up with the demand, and we were at risk of accumulating a large amount of stock. While the production costs were minimal, I had a psychological desire to sell what I’d made.

“I guess I should open a shop in the royal capital.”

I came to the conclusion that I should restart the Octopus reward issue, which had been put on hold due to the commotion caused by the princesses. I decided to visit the king in the near future.

After finishing the inspection of my home, I headed to Greg Trading Company. As I mentioned earlier, I had handed Greg a bag that allowed him to access only the goods for trade in the company. This ensured that the supply of products would not be disrupted even when I was absent.

However, for the newly added plushies and wooden dolls, their production was entrusted to the employees of the trading company, relying on manual labor. Currently, I had no idea about their status. Especially in the case of wooden dolls, I had recruited a skilled woodworker named Ganzas and left the production entirely to him. And it was expected that the supply was not meeting the demand.

I had given instructions to Greg to ensure that they didn’t overwork themselves, but we needed to address this issue urgently. I didn’t want them to suffer from overexertion and collapse, but we needed to find a solution soon.

“I’m back.”

“Woof, Master! Master is back!”

“Hey, stop it! Don’t cling to me! Sit down.”

“Woof!”

“…No, why would you listen to what I said?.”

Uluru, who probably sensed my scent early on, suddenly jumped on me. Feeling annoyed by the sudden clinginess, I tried telling her to “sit” as you would with a dog, but I didn’t expect her to actually back away from me and sit down.

Others who heard the commotion came over and were happy to see me. Among them were a few unfamiliar faces, likely newly hired employees.

“Young master, you’ve returned.”

“Yeah, anything changed while I was away?”

“No, nothing in particular…”

Though they said so with their words, there was something implied in their tone. As I tilted my head in thought, a deep male voice echoed in.