Chapter 207 Strongest Sage, Audience

 

Several hours later.
We were summoned to the royal castle for an audience with the king.

Normally, an audience involves a great number of people... But right now, there's only five people standing here.
Including the principal.

Officially it's because, 『We're discussing about something greatly related to national security』, but it's probably because the kingdom's top brass are still in chaos right now.
Taking out a weapon from the royal treasury through a direct appeal to the king is unprecedented after all.
Giving us reward in that kind of situation, we sure get the preferential treatment.

"You have done very well subjugating the demon. As a reward, I shall confer you with a rank among nobility and a territory... is what I'd like to say, but Mathias, you don't want a noble rank, do you?"

Looks like the king remembered me refusing when he offered a territory back then.
Thanks to it, I don't need to explain the reason why.
...Well in short, I don't need it since it's bothersome.

"Yes. I'd prefer to live as an adventurer than a noble who rules over a territory."

"I see."

The king looks slightly disappointed.
According to principal, the reason why the king is so eager to give me a territory is to forge a stronger bond between me and the kingdom.

Even without doing that, I intend to get along with this country anyway.
It's easier to move around with a country backing you after all.

"Then we shall think up another reward... that said, I have no idea what kind of  reward I should give considering all your achievements thus far... For now, the sword the girls took with them earlier will be given as a reward, but that alone won't be at all enough."

Oh nice, we don't have to give that sword back.
Or rather, that magic sword has turned into dust after its effect runs out, so we have no way to give back.
I would be stumped were he told us to return it.

"How about you look around the treasury? If you see anything you fancy, that shall be your reward. Though I hope you will not ask for items that are related to the royal family's root... but you can get most anything there. Like the magic item for flying we recently obtained, you could even build a castle with the money you can get from selling it."

The royal treasury huh...
I didn't find anything good when we inspected it back then.
[Items related to royal family's root] is probably important items for the royal family, but those things are more symbolic than anything, they're not strong in the sense as magic items.

Just like the magic sword we used to kill the demon, there might be new items that were brought to the royal capital... Fat chance there would be two lucky finds though.
And we can just use our magic to fly in the sky, no need to rely on magic items.

The king seems to perceive my face, he continues on.

"If you don't find something you want now, you can take it when you do find it later. I shall write a permit... Along with the rights for several dungeons to you."

"I'm ever so grateful."

I promptly replied to the king's suggestion.
Stuff found in ancient ruins get brought over to the royal treasury, they might find something nice one of these days.
Well, normally, you'd have to accept the king's offer and get your reward here, but we're probably given choices thanks to our effort in dealing with demons and helping the country.

...Afterward, Ruli and Alma received their reward.
As for the matter about them entering the treasury through a direct appeal, they weren't blamed just as the principal said.
The two were grateful for their reward, but apparently they had gotten used to it a bit after the audience before, they handled it more smoothly than before.

◇

"Please over here."

Dozens of minutes after the audience ended.
We're at the treasury under the royal palace.

I'm told that we can take the reward anytime, so I'm here just to look around a bit.
Just like the case with the magic sword, there's no guarantee that there is no super rare magic item here.

『Uun... Nothing's really caught my attention.』

『True... There's a lot of new stuff, but most of them are similar to the old stuff.』

These are our impressions the moment we entered the treasury.
...We used comm magic since constantly complaining about royal treasury would likely get treated as a lese majesty.
Just as I thought, apparently they're just bringing stuff randomly here.

There are weapons that can blow away the entire capital if properly used lying around, but since there's no one in this era can use them, those things are practically junk.
And literal junk are everywhere too. For example, a frog doll from an ancient civilization that will leap out if you provide it with mana.
...Well, I guess products of ancient civilizations must look valuable from the royal palace's point of view, so they get stored here.

Besides ancient civilization stuff, there are some weapons and magic items that appear to have been created in this era... but Ruli can easily create any of them herself.
Well, some could be difficult to make due to the material used though.

As I looked around while thinking that... Something caught my eyes.
An adamantite alloy bow which was apparently made by the past me.

『This thing, this one's interesting.』

『This bow? I think it's too heavy and too hard... I can't use it even we take it with us, you know?』

Alma immediately replied to me.
Indeed, the bow itself is just as Alma said.
However, I'm curious about the place where they found this.

"I'd like to ask about this bow."

"Yes. Would you like to take the bow?"

"No, I wasn't asking for the bow itself... did you find the arrows that came with the bow?"

These kinds of ancient civilization products were probably brought here collectively from ruin excavations.
If there is a bow, there's a high chance the arrows should be around too.
Normally, you'd leave a bow with its arrows after all.

Unlike bows, arrows, even the powerful ones, are easy to use.
That's why we took the arrows found in the mana detection ruin.
If we can get our hands on the arrows that came in set with this bow, I think Alma could get a considerable power up....

"We did find arrows in the location where the bow was found."

"Where are those arrows now? Are they in this treasury?"

"Unfortunately, those arrows had become rusty... Thus, they were deemed unfit to be stored at the royal treasury."

I see.
Arrows created from an alloy that had been optimized with mana, density and other attributes in mind are of no value in this treasury where you can find a jumping frog doll lying around huh.
...If some of the custodians of the treasury were students of the Second Academy, they could have realized the value of those arrows.

"By the way, where are those arrows now? You're not going to tell me they were thrown away, are you?"

"Rusted arrows would have no use, so they must be sold to the metal shop. It was probably sold for cheap since the metal was of unknown property, but the shop must have taken them nonetheless."

You guys, stop selling unknown metal found in ancient civilizations would you....
I give my thanks to the treasury custodian while swallowing those words.

"...Thanks. That was helpful. By the way, which metal shop bought the arrows again?"

"All metal from the royal palace should be sold to Ishisu Company."

Ishisu Company is a famous company in the capital. Even I know the name.
...Guess I'll go pay a visit to Ishisu Company later, they're probably treating all that usable metal as garbage after all.
While thinking that... The treasury custodian brought a magic item with him.

"This is the magic item for flying that his majesty the king mentioned."

The item he showed us was a magic item for flying that was apparently also excavated from the ruin of an ancient civilization.
Judging from the shape, it's probably something used in the army from the era of my past life.
The custodian begins to explain the magic item as I infer that.

"According to the result of the royal palace research team, this magic item has a maximum altitude of 300 meters, a maximum speed of 60 kilo, and a maximum usage time of 20 minutes. It might be useful in the fight with demons."

True, its performance is incomparably above flight magic item that can be created in this era.
This magic item is probably the most advanced flight magic item there is now.

Things that can be done with or without the help of flight or flying reconnaissances are dimensionally apart after all.
This magic item is fit to be a national treasure in this present world.
However...
<TLN: If you're reading this novel at any other site than Sousetsuka .com you might be reading an unedited, uncorrected version of the novel.>
"Nah, I'll have to pass."

I turned down the offer.
As a matter of fact, the flight speed of this magic item isn't that much slower than what the current me is capable of.
It's pretty nice to be able to fly with the help of a magic item without using your mana.

However, this flight magic item has two fatal issues.

First, you're defenseless while in flight.
This flight magic item seems to be designed around transportation more than for combat, you can't make a sudden break or turn with it.
You'd be a good target for your enemy if you fly with it.

The other, the weight of this magic item.
It's about 40 kilograms, which is at a level that can be carried around without a magic item... but it's still too slow.
I don't feel like walking around with this on my back, and 40 kilogram is way too much to be put inside storage magic.

"You should let someone from the knights or adventurers make use of it, not me. I can fly on my own."

This is the truth.
Since the First and Second Academies have started to teach proper magic training, the average level of knights and adventurers should rise from now on.
Letting talented graduates to carry powerful magic items should help them greatly in the fight against demons.

"I understand. Thank you very much for your consideration!"

The custodian said his thanks when he heard me.
...I simply refused the thing offered to me since I had no use for it though.

◇

Thus, explanations about magic items continued for a while... eventually, we went back without taking anything from the treasury.










Previous Chapter