“Yes, Her Majesty Fantine Falsythe Fiania. I would like you to pay her a visit. She would be able to give you the funds you need. We’re quite good friends, you see.”

“You can’t be serious! You think I would be just allowed to waltz into the castle and meet with her like that?”

“Oh, not at the castle. You see, due to a certain condition, the princess is staying at a royal villa in the outskirts of the capital. So all you need is to bring with you my letter and the guards would let you in to meet her. You show the letter to her and she would give you the money you need. I have no doubt about it.”

I paused. Technically, it isn’t odd at all for a court mage to befriend a princess. And it isn’t that odd either for a princess to have a large sum of money available to her at all times, especially if she’s the more independent sort. But still, is it really fine for me to just stroll in and demand a meeting with a princess like that, especially to ask money from her?

...What am I talking about? I’ve spent how many months with Fiora. She’s a bona-fide princess, even though she doesn’t act like that. There’s no reason to get nervous.

“Fine,” I answered with folded arms. “I don’t really like to be involved with royalty like that, but it seems I have no choice, if I’m going to hurry and catch that elf.”

“Excellent.” She smiled. “You won't regret it. She's a nice girl, you know. I'm sure you would find her a pleasant acquaintance, Milord."

A nice girl, huh? Well, I sure hope she isn't anything like Fiora… Give me my classic beautiful princess character, goddamnit!

"Master! Maasteer!"

I turned around to see Great Fairy flying towards me. And behind her, the adventurers I had saved were walking towards me as well.

"I've finished healing everyone!" She announced without skipping a beat once she was right in front of me.

"Good job!" I gave her a headpat.

“Hehe, I’m still good at it after all!” She blushed as she beamed. Ah, that’s right. She failed on healing Leila after all.

“Yeah, don’t worry. You did great this time around.” I gave her my biggest smile.

“Yaay, thank you, Master!”

With her usual innocence, she threw herself on top of me for a hug, squeezing my head between her breasts. Ah, the softness and warmth of a spring fairy…

She then disappeared, leaving me alone with Flameu once more.

“Milord, such a cute fairy you have there,” she remarked with a smirk. “And a Great Fairy too. That’s quite rare.”

“Yeah, I got her as a High Fairy actually.” I scratched my head with a smile. “And then she evolved.”

“Oh, really? That must mean she’s quite fond of you then.”

“Heh, I suppose she is.”

Like Marina taught me, a summon could evolve once they became well-acquainted with their summoner. Something about their summoner’s magic feeding into them or something. It’s similar to how monsters could evolve in the wild if exposed to a place with high concentration of mana, which is why the monsters living in the Demon Continent and inside dungeons tend to be stronger than the monsters living anywhere else.

“Great job, kiddo! Never seen someone fight as fierce as that before! And from a mage nonetheless!”

We were interrupted by the arrival of the adventurers, led by Arcturus and Red. It was the latter who greeted me however. With a big grin on his face, the bearkin put his large hand on my shoulder, patting it over and over to the point that it started to hurt.

“If you would, please refrain acting so impolitely towards Milord. After all, Milord belongs to the high aristocracy of the Empire. He's the son of an Earl in fact. Milord left his household at a young age to travel the world and polish his skills. And he had been generous enough to lend his help to me, a mere court mage of a vassal kingdom.” Flameu spoke, a thin smile drawn on her red lips.

Wait, what? I shot her a confused look. Did you just say I’m a son of an Earl? H-hey, I never said that, you know!

“W-whoa, excuse my impoliteness then.” He quickly withdrew his hand. “Uhh…” He scratched the back of his head. “Sorry, but I really don’t know how to address someone of your stature.”

"Oh, just Charles is fine." I flashed him a smile. I want to be seen as a humble noble after all.

"Lord Charles." The beautiful elf from before stepped forward. “I would like to humbly apologize for the actions of my comrades from before. It is clear that we have been very rude to you. You are in no obligation to save us and risk your life in the process, especially after how our leader treated you. You only wished to proquire a dragon’s heart to save a village in need, and yet, he forced you to offer your companion to him as payment. He truly has stepped out of the line.”

The elf bowed deeply, and in the process, her big breasts jiggled, making me redden slightly. Damn, they really are big.

“Marka, you apologize as well." The elf then shot a glare towards the beast girl behind her.

"F-fine."

She then bowed as well. Unlike the elf, her boobs were noticeably smaller so they didn't bounce as much.

"I apologize for my outburst. If there's anyone to blame, then it would be our idiot leader."

Her ears drooped down along with her tail. Honestly, even if she can't compete with the elf in the breast department, she had her own positive points, with her cute ears and tail, not to mention her thick thighs and butt her short shorts proudly showed off.

Ah, doesn't mean I don't want to fondle miss elf's ears and boobs though.

"Don't worry about it." I flashed my smile towards the two of them. "I understand your feelings." I faced the beastkin. "I know how it feels to lose someone dear to you in this line of work. And I’m sorry, for not being able to save everyone. I am still not strong enough to do that.” I gave a wry smile.

“You can’t trick me, human! You’re no weakling! You’re much stronger than us!”

Suddenly, we were interrupted by what looked to be a male gnome grinning giddily towards my direction.

“Greetings, Lord Charles. I’m Talkin. Talkin Gemcrafter. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” He gave a little bow. “And as an S-rank magician, I have to declare my expert opinion that you are indeed one of the most unusual magicians I’ve ever had the fortune to meet.”

Umm, okay….

“Those spells,” he continued without skipping a beat. “They’re nothing like I’ve seen before. Those are Wind spells, are they not? And yet, you can use the wind to such a destructive extent. And in such an elegant manner as well. You don’t conjure a large tornado to make the dragon crash into the surrounding cliffs as I would expect you would. Instead, you somehow use the wind as if it’s a hammer, or an arrow, piercing through that beast’s scales like it was nothing. And the speed! It was simply marvelous! If I had more affinity with the Wind element, I would have begged for you to teach me your spells for sure!”

“W-well, it’s nothing, really. It’s just some custom spells I came up with myself,” I bashfully replied, scratching the back of my head with a blush. All those sudden praises quite took me off-guard.

“Nothing?! Those aren’t nothing at all!” The gnome’s eyes shone even brighter. “Those are revolutionary spells! Imagine how strong all Wind mages would be if they all could cast your spells you just did! Milord, I really, really suggest you offer your services to the Empire’s Magic Corps! O-or, you could be a teacher at the Royal Academy! You could train a new generation of wind mages! And you could always go to the Mago—"

"Calm down, little guy." Red's booming voice interrupted him. "Can't you see?" He put his bear-like hand on my shoulder once again. "Charles here wants to experience the world first. He doesn't want to be stuck in the capital with those snotty nobles. Uh, not saying that you're snotty or anything, of course."

I chuckled, giving him an approving glance.

"Hey, Charles. Uh, it's alright for me to call you that, right? I'm… really not good with stuffy honorifics like Lord or Sir."

"I told you, it's fine," I replied with a grin. "I'm an adventurer now. Not a noble."

"Well put!" He laughed, patting me on the back with such force that I felt would have sent me flying if I didn't have my feet firmly on the ground. “Hey, Charles. What do you think of joining our party? We could use a mage like you around, you know.”

Ah, so that’s why he’s been so friendly. It’s a recruiting attempt.

“Milord,” the elf interrupted. “We would like you to join our party as well. We could also use a person like you in our group."

"We too!"

"We as well!"

"Please join us!"

One by one, every party there asked me to join them, to the point that I felt completely overwhelmed. Honestly, I would have answered yes to some of them, especially the elf, just because of the pretty girls they got, but I knew for a fact that I couldn't do that. I had my own mission after all.

Luckily however, I was soon "saved" by the beastkin woman once again.

"Stop it! How shameless could you guys be? Just because he's strong you all pile on him like that? Not to mention that some of you have just lost your friends! And you're already looking for their replacement? How heartless can you be?"

Hearing that, I couldn't help but smile. She's a good person, I thought to myself. She's kinder than how she portrays herself. Heh, she might just belong to the tsundere clan. I chuckled to myself.

"Apologies," I answered. "But I do not have any plans to join any parties. You see, I already have my own destination I want to reach. The Demon Continent."

The crowd fell into a loud whisper as they exchanged looks with each other.

"Ha! The Demon Continent! Impressive!" It was Red who spoke, patting my shoulder yet again. "Only the strongest adventurers go there, you know! Even us are content on staying here! And besides,” His grin suddenly disappeared, replaced by a frown. “I won’t recommend anyone to go there right now.”

My ears perked up. “Huh? Why?”

“Because there are rumors of the rising tension between the human colonists there and the demons. In particular, the Demon Lord of Wisdom had been eyeing the territory of the colonists. He might just decide to attack them and then there would be war.”

...Wait, hold on, let me recall the stuff I’ve learnt from my books. I’m not careless enough to go to some place without at least a basic idea on how it’s like after all.

So, basically, a small chunk of the Demon Continent has been colonized by humans. It all started as small villages adventurers built as their base of operations there, but over the ages, it grew into actual towns and cities. They had their own self-governance, and its citizens came from all sorts of countries and places.

As for the Demon Lord of Wisdom, his real name is Balthazar Bethel Naturia. He's one of the big players in the Demon Continent, having a decently large territory that he rules with his own laws and army. In fact, it’s like he has his own kingdom there. Unlike most of the rest of the Demon Continent, the region that’s under his rule has civilization. That’s why he earns the title of the Demon Lord of Wisdom.

So, a war between the two factions would be that—a war. Just like how a human war would be. Only at one side you would have super strong adventurers—the feudal lords that governed over the human colonies, and on the other side you would have a well-organized demon army, which naturally would be far stronger than a normal human army.

“So, for now, I would suggest against it. You don’t want to be caught up in a war, do you?” Red continued, still with the same grave expression.

Caught up in a… wait a second. If war breaks out, then there’s a chance Sherry will be caught up on it, isn’t there? Both the colonies’ and the Demon Lord’s territory are at the northern side of the Demon Continent, and you have to pass through there if you’re going to go to this continent. 

Ooh, this is bad.

“All the more reason why I should go there,” I replied. I must have quite the serious expression then as Red’s furrowed brows only grew more furrowed the moment he looked at my face. “You see, I have someone I need to meet there.”

“Someone?” he replied, scratching his red beard with a confused expression. "An acquaintance?"

"Yeah, something like that." I gave him a smile. No need to tell him more than that.

"Ah, I see. Well, I hope you can find them before things get worse there."

The rest of the adventurers seemingly withdrew their offers as well. It seemed no one really wanted to go to the Demon Continent. Makes sense. I heard there are even tougher monsters there that would make the dragon they just fought look like a mere lizard.

"How unfortunate." The elf spoke. "If you have accepted, then we would be willing to leave the Quiet Slayers and form our own party with you, Milord. After all.” She gave a dirty glance towards Arcturus. “That man needs to learn his lesson.”

Speaking of Arcturus, I just realized that he had not spoken at all through this. He had just been standing there at the back of the crowd. I couldn’t quite read his expression though. That thin smile of his could be either his way of expressing relief or his way to accept defeat. In fact, it could even be that of resentment, as he saw his two girlfriends deciding to leave him and go after me instead.

Heh, that’s what he gets for being a riajuu.

“Hey, Arcturus!” Red shouted. “You don’t have anything to say to Charles here?”

The man didn’t reply right away. Instead, he walked through the crowd and stood right in front of me, still with that smile of his.

And then, he put one hand near his chest before waving it downwards, bowing in the process.

"Apologies, Milord. If I had known that Miss Flameu is already in a relationship with you, I would not have been so impolite—to ask her to accompany me in bed."

Wait, a relationship? H-hey you got it all wrong! I'm just helping her, nothing more!

The alchemist herself didn't seem to mind though, as the corners of her lips curved in response. "Indeed you are, adventurer. Milord was quite visibly upset from that. Fortunately for you, I am not the only woman he has. He has his maid, his slave, and even the members of that B-rank party he accompanied before—all fawning over him. And why is that? Simple. He might be young but he is more of a man that you would ever be. And now, even your girlfriends are abandoning you and chasing after him instead.”

Oi oi oi! What is she saying? And that smile! She’s absolutely loving every second of it!

Arcturus’ lips twitched. He still kept his smile, but now it was obvious that he was deeply offended by what she just said. In fact, I felt I saw a glimpse of jealousy in his eyes as he glanced at me. 

Welp, let's just hope this won't bite me in the ass later.

What is she doing anyways, provoking him like that? Is it revenge for how he has treated her? I looked back at her and sure enough, there was now a full-blown haughty grin on her face. Once again, she had switched into her “dark” mode, if you will.

He didn’t say anything else. He simply retreated without a word, leaving the crowd and walking back to the encampment. The walk of a defeated man.

Huh, I couldn't help but feel a twinge of pity after all.

Let's just hope this would be a lesson for him to be less selfish. And perverted.

After that, the adventurers disbanded as well. They immediately worked on recovering the bodies of their dead members. They won't be carrying them back to the city. Instead, they would bury them here, deep enough so that no monsters or wild animals would be able to dig them up and eat their corpse.

I decided to stay and wait, even though I should be hurrying back. I felt the dead deserved that, at the very least.

Meanwhile, Flameu asked me to bury the corpse of the dragon for safekeeping, after she cleaned off some of the scales for me (with a little sprinkle of her dissolving acid, she could loosen up some of the scales well enough without ruining it). She couldn’t take everything off the dragon in one trip after all. Afterwards, the scales she had plucked off the skin—she gave it to me. She said that I should take it and make it into an armor that I could wear. “Don’t worry. I’ll cut your payment for how much they’re worth,” she said with a smirk. I didn’t object. After all, if I could get a blacksmith and a tailor to make a vest or some other light armor that I could wear with it, that would help a lot with my physical and magical defense. It has to be something non-heavy though. Dragon scales are heavy, unlike mithril, so both the blacksmith and the tailor need to be of considerable skill. I don’t even know where I can find them, to be honest.

“Hey, what was that all about?”

“Hmm?”

“You know, the lies you gave to those adventurers about me.”

She paused, her amused smirk surfacing once again. “Why, because it’s fun, Milord, seeing their reaction like that. Especially that man. Don’t you feel some satisfaction as well?”

“Well, I wouldn’t say I didn’t like seeing him like that…” I gave her a bashful smile. “But I don’t think it’s a good idea to antagonize him that way. I don’t want any trouble with him down the line.”

“Oh, that would not be a problem. He can’t touch you, Milord. You’re too strong for him. If he tries to hurt you, well, you can simply dispose of him, can you not?”

Once again, that dark glint in her eyes resurfaced.

“I mean… it’s just that…”

My words halted. I didn’t know what to say to her back.

...You know what, maybe she’s right. What am I so afraid of? This is not Japan, where you’re supposed to remain humble all the time, even though you’re so much better than everyone else. I’m clearly better than him. Hell, I’m even better than him as a lover. I might be a pervert, but I will never cheat openly with my girlfriend like that.

“See? There’s no problem, isn’t it?”

“T-the lies are still a problem though! They’re going to think badly of me when they know the truth! I’m not an earl and I don’t have a maid or a slave girl as my entourage! And I certainly don’t have Anne or Amelie as my girlfriends!”

“Oh, but you are already lying to them, aren’t you, Hugo Greenwood?”

Her grin was as wide as a cheshire cat’s.

And my face had turned as white as a sheet.