CH 105

Endin was pulled up onto the ship and wrapped tightly with chains.

Right now, I am on the King of Andestan’s ship.

Just as a formality, we brought 15 Knights, Sia, and for some, Boss with me. We also had one of the Navy soldiers we saved come with us too.

“A Horned Sheepoo….I see. Does it have a name?” Luke: “Oh, yes. His name is Boss.” “.......because he’s the boss of his flock?” Luke: “.........yes.”

Boss: [Beh]

An awkward silence followed.

Even Boss seemed to have some thoughts about his own name.

Not to the King, but to me…

And the reason why I am on this ship is to accept the formal apologies from the Andestan Kingdom.

I thought we could do this on the island, but that is technically Tronstad Kingdom territory.

A few months ago, it was still Andestan territory, but if the Andestan King appeared out of nowhere, there may be an international fuss about it.

“I will deliver a written apology to the King of Tronstad, but first, I must apologize to you. Sir Baron Lou Quain, please accept our apologies for the recent troubles you faced”

Luke: “What? Oh, no, your Majesty. You don’t have to bow.”

I get it. I get how he feels, but having a King of a nation bow his head to me makes everyone’s eyes turn towards me too….

“For this incident, how could we make it up to you?”

Luke: “Please….wait, no. You don’t need to. We received no damages from all this.”

The only loss is maybe…….loss of sleep?

But as a King, he probably wouldn’t accept that.

“Your Majesty, how about this? Former Marquis Appunto had hidden away quite the wealth. Why not confiscate half for the Kingdom and give the other half to Sir Baron Lou Quain?”

Luke: “What? You don’tー”

“I see. What a marvelous idea! In the first place, Lou Quain Lonneberg had a right to that inheritance.”

Luke: “A….right?”

“That man had designated that whiー, erh-hm! His daughter, Angelina, to inherit all his wealth.”

And though she was my stepmother, I was technically the child of that white orc.

But did the King almost say what I think he said? His Royal Knights standing behind him are trying their best not to laugh.

“So please accept these reparations from us. It is the least we can do.” “Sir Baron, I’m certain that with cultivating the island, these funds can be put to use. So please, for our sake, please accept this offering.” What am I supposed to do in this case? I turned around to Chateldon who was standing behind me.

A little troubled, he also smiled back at me and nodded.

Boss: [Unーbeh.]

Luke: “Boss?” Sia: “Oh, he say, ‘Just take whatever they give.’”

Luke: “.......like carrots?” Boss: [Unbehーー]

Sia: “He sayーー”

But I didn’t need Sia to translate and halted them with my hand.

Boss was jumping up and down in excitement. It was obvious what he was after.

“That reminds me. The Horned Sheepoo loved waatermelons, did they not?” One of the Palace Mages fidgeted trying to see if Boss would let them pet him as he spoke.

Waatermelon……It sounds like someone’s jaw got disjointed, but they are talking about watermelons.

Oh yeah. We didn’t have any on this island.

“I see, I see. Then let us include waatermelons as part of the reparations.”

Luke: “Oh, in that case, could we get the seedlings?”

“Do you plan to grow them?” Luke: “Yes, we don’t have any waatermelons on the island. In that case, we would love to try to grow them ourselves.”

It’s an opportunity to expand our farms with new fruit.

The King immediately agreed to make the arrangements.

It would have to wait till he got back to his country. We are on a ship in the middle of the ocean after all.

“Your Majesty, what shall we do with that?” “The grandchild of Appunto? Well, what shall we do with him…” I heard stories that he caused a ruckus at the castle, but honestly, he’s just a food mongering idiot.

If his mother wasn’t like that, he would have been a boy who just enjoyed eating.

Besides that, his [Gift] was really good.

If he was born as a farmer’s child, he would have had a lot of people thanking him.

A farmer…..huh.

Luke: “Your Majesty, Endin has received a [Talent for Agriculture]. Can we not find a way to use that [Gift] of his?”

“Ah….I see. The [Talent for Agriculture]. I did not receive any reports from Lonneberg on the matter. Why would he hide that fact from me?”

Luke: “Endin himself disdained his gift. I presume Lonneberg….actually, Angelー....umm, I mean that whiー.......*cough* his stepmother probably prohibited him from making the report?”

“I see. Everyone in Appunto’s household was very proud of their status, so that would make sense. Then yes, as for Endin, we will make sure that he uses his [Gift] to its fullest potential.” Endin had lived a life focused on just eating.

A life of growing his own food and growing delicious crops would not be a terrible life.

I hoped that he would learn how wonderful it was to be able to eat and how lucky he was before.

Now, that left the soldiers and their families we rescuedーー

“Your Majesty. We are traitors of the Kingdom. Though Appunto took our families as hostages, we still obeyed his commands and attacked Sir Baron Lou Quain.” Wait, but you didn’t do any damage to me, so…

“We are prepared to receive the due punishments, but…..if there is any way to repay Sir Lou Quain, we would deeply appreciate any opportunities to do so.”

The soldiers all looked very serious as they spoke.

RーRepay me? They really don’t have to be so serious about this. All I really lost was sleep.

“I see. Well spoken. Sir Baron Lou Quain, if I may inquire, do you have enough people?”

Luke: “Huh? People…..you say?” Well, not really. Actually, not at all.

Luke: “We are currently looking for permanent residents on our island.”

“I see. Then Sir Knight, Reyerune.”

“Yes, your Majesty.” WhーWhat’s going on? “You and all your subordinates are now banished from our country.”

“Thank you, your Majesty.”

For some reason, the Knight was okay with that as he turned to kneel down towards me.

Reyerune: “You have saved my life, and I will repay this debt by serving you, Sir Lou Quain, until I die.” Luke: “Wait, um…..”

Reyerune: “I offer you, sir, this life.” What?!

Wait, that’sーーis that even okay?!

I turned around to Chateldon for help, but he only chuckled.

Chateldon: “Sir Baron, if they are banished, then they are wanderers who do not belong to any nation. We can welcome them as citizens of our town.”

Luke: “IーIs that really okay?” Chateldon: “As long as they are serving as your personal militia, there is no problem accepting them as Knights either.” If they were official Knights of the Kingdom, they would have to pledge their loyalty to the King himself.

But if they are just part of a local militia, then the authority to hire them falls upon the local governor.

But that also means that their salary is paid by the governor too.

Chateldon and his Order is technically my personal Knights Order, so I’m paying their salaries.

Money……..money, huh.

Well, if I’m receiving some inheritance money from Appunto, I could pay their salaries from there.

Luke: “Then……..yes, you are all welcome to live on our island.”

I held out my right hand to shake his hand.

Was his name, Reyerune?

He looked confused at the gesture, but after hesitating, he took my hand and shook it awkwardly.