It was early evening, but my friends and I hadn't eaten much that day due to checking on Haku's growth and working on the Armored Ant Nest.
A hungry Kurena was bringing food to her mouth at a tremendous rate.
Gerda on the other side of the room was gesturing to her to be a little more calm, but it never reached Kurena.
Mash asked me to tell him about our adventures, so I started telling him about our adventures in the S-class dungeon.
Kurena's sister Lily was also listening with a glint in her eye, as if she loved adventure.
"So, Allen. I heard about your petition from the Adventurers' Guild. I see you're also active in the Baukis Empire."
(Huh? My petition? Wasn't it the Branch Manager's? Well, it doesn't really matter.)
In the meantime, Viscount Granvelle spoke to me.
"What? Has the Latash Kingdom already been approached? I've heard that the department is still in the trial stage."
''They want to use the dungeons in Academy City to test whether it can be operated in other dungeons."
(Is the Viscount responsible for the diplomatic relation with the Adventurers' Guild?)
Viscount Granvelle was a diplomat of the Latash Kingdom.
It was because the Latash Kingdom wanted to get along with Rosenheim.
It was also because the King of the Latash Kingdom wanted to distance Viscount from the military and the Academy faction and Earl Hamilton.
Also, Viscount Granvelle, who used to go to the Royal Capital once a month when I used to be a manservant, had moved to the Royal Capital.
He was asked to live there as there were a lot of jobs that the Nobles in the Royal Castle wanted him to do.
His son, Thomas, was also an official at the Royal Castle and was studying to take over the Granvelle family.
The Viscountess also lived with him in the Royal Capital if she ever got lonely alone, so the Butler Sebastian was managing the Granvelle territory.
It's another story that Rickel, the head manservant who used to take care of me, was being overworked by the Butler.
The Viscount asked if I had done something wrong again, and I simply replied that I hadn't done anything wrong.
Marshal Sigur of Rosenheim called out to me after that.
"I thank you again for the precious gifts that you are giving us."
"What? You're welcome. Please note that Silver Beans last for 100 years and Gold Beans only last for 10."
''No, with these, we will be able to safely focus on rebuilding the devastated city without hurrying. Her Majesty the Queen is very pleased with it. And I am truly grateful to you for saving Rosenheim not once, but twice. Thank you."
Saying that, Marshal Sigur, General Lucidral, Elder Philamer and the rest of the elves bowed deeply to me.
""!?""
The hall fell silent at once.
The Boar meat fell from the hands of the serfs who had just come of age in the lower seats.
The serfs and commoners heard Marshal Sigur's greeting, but they didn't know who he was.
They couldn't understand much of what he was saying, but even the village serfs could tell by the way he was dressed that he was some kind of a big shot.
He was clearly dressed in superior clothing to Viscount Granvelle.
And he was bowing his head so close to the floor that I thought he had hit the floor, and no one moved an inch.
Everyone's gazes moved towards me, to whom the elves were bowing at.
The Viscount's mouth opened involuntarily and he tried to understand what had happened, but his thoughts abandoned him.
After a moment, the Viscount complained with his eyes about what I had done, and I replied with my eyes that I would tell him later.
I wasn't sure if the Viscount understood what I was trying to say with my eyes.
(Hey, hey, why are you thanking me now? The Queen has already thanked me in Rosenheim.)
I remembered Her Majesty the Queen thanking me quite profusely at that time as well.
I had given Her Majesty the Queen, Silver Bean and the Golden Bean, seeds made from my A-rank Grass summon that grew large silver and gold trees.
My E-rank to B-rank Grass summons were based on healing or curing abnormal statuses, but A-rank Grass was different.
[Species] Grass
[Rank] A
[Name] Solarin
[Strength] 100
[Mana] 10000
[Attack] 100
[Endurance] 100
[Agility] 100
[Intelligence] 100
[Luck] 10000
[Blessings] +200 [Mana], +200 [Luck], <Evil>
[Special Skills] Silver Bean, Bean Throw
[Awakening] Golden Bean
A-rank Grass looked like a broad bean with limbs.
The Grass species design was basically set in stone.
As for its effect, if you planted a [Silver Bean], a tree would grow, and within 1 kilometer of the tree, a ward would be set up that prevented any B-rank or lower magical beasts from approaching.
It would apparently last for 100 years, according to Merus.
And, if you planted a [Golden Bean], a tree would grow, and within 1 kilometer of the tree, a ward would be set up that prevented any A-rank or lower magical beasts from approaching.
It would apparently last for 10 years, according to Merus.
If you were to plant it near a magical beast, it wouldn't be defeated, but it wouldn't be able to come near you.
The special skill [Bean Throw] allowed me to throw Silver or Gold Beans at magical beasts.
Either bean could defeat a B-rank magical beast.
Even A-rank magical beasts got a lot weaker if they were hit by a bean.
<Evil> prevented C-rank or lower magical beasts from coming close to me.
At that moment, Rosenheim was in a hurry to recover from the invasion of the Demon King's Army.
Many cities and forts had been destroyed and they had no functioning walls.
It took me on average 5 A-rank magic stones to make one bean.
I gave Her Majesty the Queen 100 of each of the two types of beans and told her to use them in order of priority, for which Her Majesty the Queen thanked me with tears.
There were still many magical beasts from the remnants of the Demon King's army in Rosenheim.
She said that it might have taken the elves decades to defeat them all because they were so finely dispersed over a large continent.
And according to her, the magical beasts sometimes formed a clique and interfered with the reconstruction of the city and the fort.
[Silver Bean]s and [Golden Bean]s could save the elves from that.
I told them that I could supply more beans if they were required.
A lot of lives could be saved if the elves could safely reconstruct their cities and forts.
"No, let me thank you. Rosenheim will surely do its best to fulfill Lord Allen's wishes. If you are ever in need of help, please call upon us elves, first."
"Yes. If there's anything I need, I will ask the elves first."
I couldn't think of anything at the moment so I decided to leave it at that.
I reminded Marshal Sigur not to weigh down the atmosphere of the pleasant meeting any further.
"..."
Rodan watched this process in silence.
He thought that his son was a kid who wasn't bound by common sense.
He remembered his son telling him that he didn't want to be a servant of the Granvelle Family like yesterday.
He looked at his son with some sadness, feeling far away from him and not understanding him at all.
"You. No."
"Yeah, I'm sorry."
Rodan shook his head at Theresia.
I had planted the beans around the Armored Ants Nests so that their activities were not disturbed, they were not attacked by foreign enemies, and so that they could be easily managed.
When I investigated the ecology of Armored Ants, I found out that they had a lot of natural enemies.
I didn't want them to come too close to the Nest.
I wanted to plant a lot of beans in the Rodan Village, Granvelle territory and the Carnell territory.
I hadn't completed my experiments of the beans, but I wanted to talk to Rodan and the Viscount about the circumstances that had just occurred.
"Oh, by the way. Mash. Are you studying well?"
"Yes, Brother Allen."
Mash would enter the Academy in April.
He said he had learned enough.
Thanks to Viscount Granvelle sending a lecturer to the Rodan Village.
"Well, I'm sure there will be a lot of dangerous assignments at the Academy, so you can take this with you."
I held out 6 Rings, two each for [Strength], [Attack] and [Agility], to Mash in the palm of my hand.
They were special Rings that could only be found on the Silver Chests of the 5th Floor.
Each Ring raised a status by 5000.
I didn't want to power level my brother and sister's Levels and Skill Levels, even if they had good fighting ability.
Because if their status got multiplied by a few folds, then they wouldn't be able to adjust to the change and get themselves caught in some form of accident.
However, Mash had grown more than what I would have liked.
Kurena and Dogora told me when I was at the Academy that Mash was pretty depressed after I was gone.
Thanks to Kurena and Dogora, I found out that Mash had grown up well even with his older brother, me.
Mash had grown up to be a dependable elder brother who thought of his sister.
"..."
Such Mash silently looked at the Ring that was in the palm of my hand.
"What's up?"
I asked Mash as he wasn't taking it.
"It's okay brother. I'll be strong on my own."
(Oh! He said no!)
Mash turned down the power that I wanted to give him.
At just age 12, Mash said he wanted to move forward on his own.
After hearing about the conversation with Viscount Granvelle, Marshal Sigur's exchange, and my adventures, it seemed that Mash had strongly awakened his ego.
He wanted to walk on his own and not rely on his brother.
"Oh, yeah. But do you know? Outside the village, there are many magical beasts stronger than the Great Boar?"
I struggled to keep my face from relaxing as I talked to my brother, who was growing up and trying to walk on his own.
"Uh, yeah? I'll defeat them on my own."
"Even those magical beasts that are stronger than your brother?"
"What? There's no such thing."
"There are. And there were a lot of them."
(Demons actually.)
"Really...?"
"And I have heard that Lily will be going to the Academy next year as well. What if there's a magical beast that you can't defeat without the Ring when you're at the Academy together? Those magical beasts won't take kindly to you."
I wanted to teach Mash that the world was not kind but cruel.
Marshal Sigur and Viscount Granvelle were also silently listening to our conversation, wondering what I was trying to say.
"..."
Trying to move on of his own volition, Mash froze, not knowing what to do or what to answer.
"You might wish you had the Rings at a time like that."
"But I..."
Still, Mash wanted to move forward on his own.
"So keep this Ring in your pocket and use it if you ever get into trouble."
"Pocket?"
"Try to defeat those magical beasts on your own, but when the going gets tough, equip yourself with the Ring."
I wasn't against Mash's idea.
"Thank you, Brother Allen."
Even as a child, Mash understood what I intended.
I respected Mash's thoughts and showed him an alternative, saying that if he still couldn't do it, he could take advantage of his brother.
Tears welled up in Mash's eyes.
"Surviving is the most important thing. If you have someone you want to protect, then you must do everything in your power to protect them. You can't hesitate to do whatever you have to do."
"Yeah... Thanks."
With that, I pulled a pouch out of <Inventory> and put all six Rings in it and handed it to Mash.
He received it with a wrinkle on his head.
Mash looked embarrassed as he got his head patted in front of everyone.
My friends were relieved that Mash received the Ring safely.
Conversations and happy times resumed again.
(Happy times. This is all I'm trying to protect.)
I saw a warm happy home with various family members and friends.
The world could possibly be destroyed in a few years.
Apparently God valued harmony more than people.
I had no intention of telling the story to everyone.
We were going to do ourselves a favor and pretend that we were not in a predicament.
The scene before me was all that I had and wanted to protect with my own hands.
I had to protect that happiness by any means necessary.
(I'm definitely going to protect you in any way I can.)
I threw the words I told Mash to myself.
The power in Allen's eyes grew.
"I'm a man of my word."
Allen muttered this in a voice that no one could hear, but with determination.
