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Gerald Winchester was trying to wrap things up with a verbal agreement, but I insisted that we go to the territory together after the Social Gathering ended today and before I returned tomorrow. Let’s discuss the sponsorship in detail there.

After sending off Gerald Winchester, Riche, who had been standing like a screen the whole time, asked with a trembling voice,

“Do we really have to go there…?”

“Of course. We need to go.”

When it comes to money matters, verbal agreements aren’t enough; direct, face-to-face transactions yield results that are satisfactory for both parties. Well, sponsorship is given unilaterally, so there’s technically no need for a consensus.

“Weren’t you against receiving sponsorship?”

“That was the case originally.”

It seemed Riche didn’t want to go back to her family estate, and I hadn’t planned on accepting sponsorship either. I knew that accepting money from nobles would just lead to unnecessary hassle. But Gerald was too irritating with his intentions to use me. If he wanted to use me, then I’d flip the table in my favor.

“Ugh…”

“Riche, people can’t live their lives just doing what they want.”

Sometimes in life, you have to do things you really don’t want to do.

“I know that, but…”

I brought a glass of wine to Riche, who looked as if she had wilted. Normally she wouldn’t do something like this, but with the aid of alcohol, it was possible. Riche gingerly accepted the wine I offered.

Just then, Lucia and the Emperor approached. For some reason, a bothersome atmosphere was creeping in.

“Your Majesty, this is the adventurer I mentioned a moment ago.”

“Oh! Is this the one you said might become the fourth S-Rank Adventurer?”

“Actually, it could happen anytime if the conditions are met.”

As Lucia said, once I receive a letter of recommendation from an Alchemist, I’ll be S-Rank. The Emperor’s eyes sparkled like a child’s at that revelation.

Well, having a friendship with an S-Rank Adventurer, often dubbed a human weapon, could be quite useful in the future. Just in case, say, an S-Rank equivalent monster invaded or, heaven forbid, a war broke out between nations.

“Nice to meet you. I am Abraham de Albert.”

The Emperor extended his hand towards me. It was a clear request for a handshake.

A handshake is a common greeting. The problem lies in the fact that the one initiating it is the Emperor.

Whether he intended this or not, in a place full of nobles, the Emperor personally asking to shake hands serves to validate ‘me’ as a person.

Handshakes are usually exchanged between equals. So, his extending a handshake meant he recognized me as an equal or similar counterpart. The only ranks that could be on par with the Emperor are S-Rank adventurers or the kings of other nations.

With no particular reason to refuse the handshake, I accepted it, and naturally, the attention of the surrounding nobles shifted towards us.

“However, you look a bit too young to have reached such heights. Are you also involved in a similar field as the Alchemist?”

“No, shockingly, it’s a physically oriented field.”

“Oh? At your age?”

The Emperor stroked his beard, looking like he was deep in thought. I had a few tasks I wished the Emperor could assist with moving forward. Should I ask?

“Your Majesty.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“If it’s not too much trouble, may I ask for a favor from you, Your Majesty?”

Normally, no one would dare to make such a request directly in front of the Emperor. But considering that people here don’t have high expectations of adventurers, I fancied I could bypass those formalities.

Fortunately, the Emperor was a carefree man, so he cheerfully accepted.

“Haha! You need that kind of guts to be an S-Rank Adventurer! Alright, what is it? Money? Honor? Just say the word!”

“Can I erase a certain family?”

“……?”

*

The next day, we left the inn early in the morning to travel to the Winchester family’s territory. Naturally, we were to travel by cart, but…

“Hey Riche, how long will it take to get to your territory?”

“By cart… it takes just over a week, I think?”

“Ugh, damn it.”

No matter how luxurious the carriage, it couldn’t possibly provide a ride as pleasant as a car. To sit in that for a whole week? I could never bear it.

Plus, I met Riche’s sister and brother in the morning. While the brother seemed fine, the sister didn’t appear to be on friendly terms with Riche, so traveling together in the same carriage for a week would’ve definitely been awkward.

Thus, we decided to send the carriage ahead and teleport ourselves first.

We joined the Winchester family in the morning and made our way directly to Jeminal Academy. I also intended to ask for a letter of recommendation, using Lucia’s personal connections to request a teleportation.

“Lucia, there’s something I need your help with for world peace. Can you assist me?”

“…Yes?”

And Lucia readily agreed to help.

So, right after teleporting to the Ducal Territory with Lucia’s help.

The Winchester family, who had never freely used a teleportation that even nobles couldn’t recklessly utilize, seemed to be quite impressed, though they didn’t show it outwardly.

At this point, Gerald was probably running his happiness circuit at full throttle. He thought he was merely an ordinary A-Rank Adventurer, but with my ties to an S-Rank Adventurer, Gerald was likely dancing the joyous twist in his mind.

“Ahem… let’s move to the mansion.”

Clearing his throat to grab attention, Gerald Winchester led us directly to the mansion. The mansion was indeed large, but having just seen the Royal Palace yesterday, I found it somewhat underwhelming; I’d seen similar estates in other territories.

Despite this being Riche’s long-awaited homecoming, she didn’t seem particularly thrilled. I had no intention of staying long either.

Going back to the Empire from here would take at least a week, so I aimed to accomplish my goal promptly and leave.

Riche’s sister and brother headed off to their respective rooms, and after a moment, Gerald, claiming he would change clothes, had a butler guide us to the reception room.

As we were served by the butler and waited, Gerald arrived shortly after changing clothes.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Gerald sat on the sofa opposite us, and the butler who had just poured tea stood rigorously behind him.

“That’s fine. How about we get to the more productive discussions?”

“Ah, I see. Then let’s talk about sponsorship.”

He showed a nonverbal response when I mentioned the ‘productive’ part. While I wasn’t particularly enthusiastic about it, in a way, Gerald Winchester and I had quite similar dispositions. He was solely focused on reality and judged everything based on practicality.

With that kind of nature, if he thought he might incur any losses, he probably wouldn’t even entertain a discussion.

It seemed like he’d decided that his current offer of sponsorship would produce various benefits in the future, so I figured I’d just wait and hear how much he was willing to give.

“Do you have a specific amount in mind?”

“That’s not for me to decide.”

I’d never received sponsorship in my life, and honestly, the one giving sponsorship has the final say, not me.

“How about 10 gold coins a month?”

Ten gold coins a month. That was a large enough sum to live off of comfortably if one didn’t squander it away. As expected of a duke, his spending was generous. Still, if I could get more, why not?

“Think of it as an extra allowance for your daughter. Couldn’t you spare a little more?”

I pointed out that I also had four daughters in my party, implying he could spend a bit more. Upon hearing that, Gerald’s left eyelid twitched slightly.

Why? Is he feeling stingy about spending on a daughter he abandoned? However, realizing he couldn’t just brush me off after coming all this way, he increased the amount, looking generous.

“…Alright. How about 20 gold coins?”

“And what do you want in return for this?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Come on, don’t play dumb. How many people sponsor purely out of goodwill?”

“Hah, that’s true.”

This isn’t a streaming site, after all. Who would willingly sponsor without expecting something in return?

“What I want from you is support in case of a monster invasion and, while it probably won’t happen, in case a war breaks out with another family.”

The latter seems unrealistic. I hadn’t heard any rumors of war since getting here. So, the immediate issue is the monster invasions, something territories were predominantly facing. That’s why there’s an Adventurer’s Guild in every territory.

However, if interpreted correctly, his mention of ‘war with another family’ could hint at multiple meanings. If Gerald slyly provoked another house into war, I would need to step in to help?

“Truly a piece of work, aren’t you?”

I doubt he’d go that far, but no need to explain how often people mess up. Most of our talk had reached its conclusion, so shall we get to what I originally planned?

“Sounds good. Now…”

Die, please. I said as I pulled a sword out of my Inventory.

“……”

“What?”

Gerald, either caught off guard or unsure of how to react, was boringly unresponsive. It was Riche who was the most astonished and interjected.

“Wait, what are you saying, Luke? You never mentioned anything like that…!”

Of course, I hadn’t said anything to anyone. If you want to deceive the enemy, first deceive your allies, right? I hadn’t mentioned it in case you became a hindrance.

“Just what it sounds like. I’m simply cleaning up the trash for world peace.”

If the upper waters are polluted, the lower waters are bound to suffer too. Thus, I’m just filtering out the rotting water.

“Was this your intention from the start?”

“Yes. Did you think money was all it takes?”

Actually, in a world where money talks, it pretty much does. But that’s only when you’re either giving it away freely or doling out work equivalent to that cash. Just like a country’s military that pays you 600,000 won a month, they might be better off if you didn’t bother taking that money at all.

Just as I was about to declare it was time to eliminate everyone,

“……!”

“Ugh!”

“Ugh…!”

All three, except me, suddenly slumped their heads onto the table as if they had lost all strength.

“So it seems the effect has finally kicked in.”

In a foolish display, Gerald revealed it was all his doing.

“It’s Paralysis Poison. I just tend to be cautious.”

Looks like he spiked the tea with Paralysis Poison earlier. No wonder he didn’t seem fazed at all. Seriously, spiking his own daughter’s drink with Paralysis Poison? By now, the Demon God must have been unemployed.

But there’s one issue.

[Status Ailment Resistance (B+) activated. Cleansing paralysis.]

Which means I’m perfectly fine.

“But you didn’t really investigate the opponent at all, did you?”

“……!”

Gerald was taken aback. This was seemingly unexpected. I mean, he only met me for the first time yesterday. What time did he have to conduct any research?

Really, passive skills like Status Ailment Resistance wouldn’t show outwardly, so unless Luna or Yui had me explain, no one should know about it.

“One of my favorite things is to stomp on those who think they’re tough, but how did you know to prepare a monologue like this?”

I figured if Riche were to interfere, the number of targets I had would only increase.

But here he was, graciously laying himself flat. How kind! If only he’d shown that kindness to others, maybe he wouldn’t be dying right now.

“So, dear father-in-law. Would you kindly become a sleeping beauty for me?”

 

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