Chapter 346: C-Rank Advancement Examination (2)

“Long time no see, Halt.”

“Ah, Leo-Nii!”

Leon, Halt’s older brother, welcomed them when they arrived in Glendale’s Royal Capital.

“It’s been a while. Why haven’t you been visiting us these days?”

“Sorry. I’m a bit busy with some stuff.”

“I see… it’s been hard on you. By the way, His Majesty and Cai-Nii visited us on Mai and Mei’s birthday last month, you know.”

“I told you, I’m busy. This kingdom’s monarch disappears so recklessly, you know? It always causes an uproar every single time, but… Well, he’s probably off to your place to eat Tina’s handmade dishes.”

Gil Glendale, the monarch of this kingdom, would visit Halt’s mansion almost every month.

Including Luke and Ryuushin’s families living in the Ernol mansion, Halt’s family has around 20 people in it. In short, somebody’s bound to celebrate their birthday every month. Gil would visit Halt’s mansion to enjoy Tina’s dishes that were served during the birthday party.

Everytime Leon was informed about that, he would run around helter-skelter to keep things under control.

“Cai-Nii comes as the escort of His Majesty, so you could’ve done the same, Leo-Nii.”

“Hey hey, His Majesty is THE KING, you know that, right. He’s the grandest big wig of this kingdom. It’ll be a huge disaster if word went out that the monarch of this kingdom keeps on hanging out in the mansion of a noble’s child. It’s a huge problem for the country if the king supports only a fraction of nobility.”

“What a bull headed guy as usual.”

“Ditto. Be more flexible in the way you consider things, will you.”

Gil and Cain suddenly appeared.

“Your Majesty!”

Leon hurriedly knelt on one knee.

“Leon, you… You’re just like Cain in the past.”

“Your Majesty. It is but natural for a soldier of this kingdom to have this kind of attitude.”

“Ahh, Cain. You were absolutely like that before.”

Leon used to be a more easy-going guy before. However, as his military career progressed, so did his self-discipline. Cain, on the other hand —

“Your Majesty, you’ve already poisoned me with your ways ever since I left the troops, making me turn out like this.”

“Well, that’s fine with me. It’ll be fine to just act formal when we’re in front of our citizens.”

Gil didn’t seem to have any intention to mend his ways.

“Then please, do summon a minister or a knight of the Order if you’re going on an excursion, at the very least.”

“Will they let me go out if I call them?”

“T-That’s —”

If Gil were to leave the palace, he had to check several things such as the route of his excursion, the deployment of troops, as well as the movement of factions that target the monarch. Moreover, several imperial guards had to escort him, so he would need to be accompanied by ten people, including the physicians, at the very least.

“I want to visit Halt’s mansion alone as much as possible. I’ve already compromised a lot by taking Cain with me as my guard.”

Previously, Cain had been constantly serving beside him without break. Gil noticed how infrequently Cain meets his younger brother Halt, so the king decided to visit Halt’s mansion once in a while.

However, the moment the monarch tasted Tina’s handmade dishes, he immediately fell captive to the taste. He even considered summoning Tina to the palace and make her his exclusive chef, but it was absolutely impossible.

Tina was the world’s heroine and also Halt’s wife.

Glendale, a major agricultural kingdom, flourished because of the blessing of Undine, the Water Spirit King. And that Undine was presently part of the Ernol House. In other words, she is also now one of Halt’s wives.

Upon learning that Wind Spirit King Sylph was formally wed to Halt, Undine immediately clamored “then me too!”, and pushed herself to Halt.

This kingdom could never go against Undine. Thus, it will never be able to go against Halt, who is Undine’s husband.

Nevertheless, Halt didn’t have any intention of making unreasonable demands towards the kingdom. That’s because he could do almost everything with his own power. On the contrary, the king couldn’t even propose to grant any of Halt’s wishes in exchange for Tina’s handmade dishes.

It was also a pipe dream to order Tina to cook for him.

However, he still had a chance to taste her cooking, and that was during the birthday of one of the members of the Ernol family. The only exception, or not having any guarantee, was during Tina’s birthday.

“By the way, Your Majesty, is there an event going on for today?”

“I got wind that Halt and the others are taking the C-rank Adventurer advancement exam. I’m here to cheer them.”

“Whoa! Thank you very much!!”

“Hmm, good luck.”

Once an adventurer climbs to C-rank, he would be eligible to receive commissions from the kingdom.

Gil thought that he might even have a chance of having Tina’s homemade dishes delivered to him if he commissioned a quest such as “Bring the handmade dishes of the Heroine”. Thus, he wholeheartedly stepped out to support Halt and the rest.

“Ugh, no good.”

“The secret guards must’ve noticed.”

Gil came here by sneaking out while evading the hidden guards’ eyes. Gil and Cain sensed several hidden guards coming towards the entrance of the Royal Capital where they were.

“Well then, Halt, good luck. If you become a C-rank, I’ll prioritize giving you commissions from the kingdom.”

“I-Is that really alright?”

“It’s fine. In return… Every time you have a party in your house, do invite me.”

“I understand. We will be awaiting your orders, Your Majesty.”

“Hmm. Alright, do as you see fit!”

“See you next time, Halt.”

And so saying, Gil and Cain disappeared.

They had used concealment skills.

“I-I just witnessed a backroom deal between the monarch and a citizen… But, my older brother didn’t even step in to stop him, and not only that, the one the king made a deal with is my very own younger brother… Just, what is the right thing to do as a soldier of this kingdom!?”

“Leo-Nii, how about you just give it up and join our side?”