“Otto Tibult, Prince of the Tibult family, is being promoted to the rank of Viscount. For his accomplishments in rescuing his brother, defeating a general, and obliterating Fort Pride… he will receive 1000 gold, 4 knights, and land of his own.”

“Um… congratulations?” I said.

“No… those are your accomplishments!” Otto cried. “They’re giving me credit for what you did! Please don’t hate me, Brother.”

“I see…”

I had felt something seemed off. At first, I had just assumed that we were sharing credit. Even if it was me behind the Meteor, it was, by all accounts, his expedition in the end. It was his rescue mission, and he was the one who returned alive. None of my slaves would have gotten benefits for any mission I completed either, even though they do most of the work. It was simply natural that the person on top got the credit. However, in this case, I was actually a higher rank, although not anymore, and it sounded like my credit wasn’t being shared, but completely stolen!

“You don’t seem as angry about this as I would have been,” Octius noted.

“Of course, he wouldn’t!” The Prince snorted. “He’s a man’s man!”

“You don’t have to convince me!” Octius grinned, causing even the Prince to look at him hesitantly.

“I’m a bit confused; this award is larger than saving the Capital…”

“All awards need to be taken in context. You were nothing. Being brought up to Viscount from a subject was an extreme jump. So was the land I awarded you and the money. To the Tibult family, 1000 gold and four knights are trivial. Bringing an existing lord up to a high lord status is the biggest award I gave them, and still a smaller jump.”

I relaxed when I thought about it that way. It was true that the amount the Lord had granted me was almost astronomical from the point of view of a villager. That only left the second problem. These were my accomplishments! I had given my life. That’s right! They didn’t know why I had done it! No one knew about the artifact. For all they knew, I just self-destructed to escape capture. In that case, the source of the mission, Octius’s rescue, was mostly carried out by Otto, and my actions were more of a happy accident.

“You see… it’s like this…” I went on to describe what happened after Otto and Octius left the room.

Otto’s eyes widened in shock, while Octius started to look at me in an uncomfortably lustful way. The Prince scratched his chin as I explained everything. Of course, in the end, all they had was my word for it. I destroyed the artifact, and along with it any evidence it existed. By the time I was done, I felt slightly depressed.

“Since this is the case…” The Prince spoke up. “Then, I will increase Otto’s award to 2000 gold!”

“What?”

“As for Octius, you had already received your reward yesterday. Although… I don’t understand why you wanted a sex-changing potion.”

“Tee hee… I had my reasons.” Octius winked at me.

My eyes grew even larger, but I wasn’t focused on that now. Rather, I felt a surge of anger that the Prince was shafting me so much. It was basically a slap in the face.

“May I… be dismissed now,” I responded through clenched teeth, unable to hide my anger any longer.

Otto winced, and Octius looked on with a bit of pity, but strangely enough, the Prince was relieved.

“So, that’s what it takes to make you angry.” He said, gently smiling. “I had worried you’d be too amendable.”

“Are you treating this like a game?” I responded angrily.

“I think you misunderstand my intentions.” The Prince sighed. “I could give you rank, money, resources… but all I would be doing is painting a target on your back. The basic truth is… your growth is too alarming!”

I blinked in surprise.

“I meant what I said in the past. I see you as a brother. You have a cool head. You don’t act petty or vengeful. You’re willing to help without expecting a personal gain. You’re even willing to forgive your enemies, and going so far as to save their lives.” He glanced over at the Tibults, who now looked sheepish. “There are few men of your calibre. Which is why I can’t help you too much openly. You’re the ace up my sleeve now, my hidden weapon. Yes, I will use you. You will defeat Lord Reign when the time is right, but when it is all over, I won’t forget what you have done and the loyalty you have shown. Trust me; when the time comes, and the situation is reversed, and your family needs us, we will be there. I swear it on my life!”

I bit my lip, suddenly feeling a bit foolish for being so angry. I had seen too many hero stories where the guy did barely anything and then was handed everything. This wasn’t that kind of world. It was important to work hard every day to advance. No one got promoted just because they did something once. You needed to show you were reliable and could be trusted. I couldn’t just help people in expectation of a reward.

Back when I helped Otto, I hadn’t been doing it, expecting the prince to give me an award. If anything, this ties the Tibults to me, because now their son’s merits were directly taken from me. Octius and Otto knew this and were thus indebted to me. That was an award the prince had given. Had he really thought so far ahead? I had a feeling he did.

“I understand. I will take your words to heart.” I gave him a proper bow, although it was still clumsy.

“Now… aren’t you supposed to be saving the king?” He asked, giving me a wry look.

“Geh… um… about that. The 27th level is a water level, and it’s filled with carnivorous fish. We were on our way to Kingsport to have a ship built so we could navigate it.”

The Prince scratched his chin for a bit and then raised an eyebrow. “Why didn’t you just freeze it?”

“What?”

“Freeze the water. Just use a strong ice spell and then freeze the pathway, then walk along with it. One or two feet would be all that was needed to render the fish useless. At least, that’s what I would have done.”

“…”

I felt like smacking my head. Well, it was too late for that route. Rather, no one in my party had that level of ice ability. We would have had to locate an ice mage the same way we were locating a shipwright, so in the end, it wouldn’t have changed much.

“Well…” The Prince clapped his hands together. “Carry on. Let me know when father is rescued. If there is anything vital that happens, please keep me informed.”

“Yes, my lord.” I bow again and then leave.

Otto and Octius followed me out the door and escorted me to the gates of the castle. Otto insisted on paying for the boat. Although I wanted to resist, he pushed a purse of a thousand gold coins into my hands and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

“It can be my dowry…” Octius giggled.

I pretended I couldn’t hear him. Thinking about the harsh reality of what might have happened was too much for me.

Back in the room I just left, the Prince looked back Eliana, who had hidden behind him and said nothing the entire time.

“You were pretty quiet. I thought you’d be angry that he didn’t receive a better reward and fight more on his behalf.”

She blushed. “H-he got his reward.”

“Oh?”

She started to touch her fingers together and look down, a shy expression on her face. “He didn’t even say anything to me… and after I gave him that…”

“Eh? What did you give him? Are you sure it was something he valued?”

“Stupid brother!” She suddenly yanked off her shoe and threw it at him before storming away angrily.

The Prince remained on the floor for a while, wondering what he had said to piss off the princess suddenly. When a maid saw him lying on the ground with blood pooling under his head, she ran off screaming about an assassination. It was a mess that put the whole palace on lock down, but by then, I had already left the city.