Princess Carmin of Clebeur had offered Allen a reward, but he politely refused to take anything.
Cecile and Dogora were also there, Allen had declined to accept a reward without consulting them first, but they did not seem bothered as it was a normal occurrence for them.
"U-umm, can I at least ask why?"
The princess was slightly taken aback, she had never expected someone would refuse a favor from her.
(I don't know how to put it, I feel like I've seen this too many times in my life, or like I never help on time. I just wish there was a more special king that would trade me a ship for some pepper.)
Allen felt like he had seen something like that in his past life, some king that gave his character a ship just for some salt or pepper.
He was more than willing to undergo such a trade.
In the case of the Spirit God Rosen, or Dungeon Master Digragni, he would request their aid as much as he could.
But there was something the elf princess had told him for times when a poor noble asked him to protect his daughter and tried paying, or when a king tried rewarding him for rescuing a country in crisis.
In those times, their feelings were enough.
"There's many people in Clebeur that may have lost everything and don't have anywhere to go. I simply believe feeding them and giving them a place to call home is more important than me."
Allen realized he might have hurt the royal family's feelings, so he bowed as he said that.
More than a million of Clebeur's citizens were sheltered in the fortified city now.
They were essentially stuffed into the walls, after running away from the capital, or integrating into the convoy after escaping their cities.
Albahar had started sending food and other resources to maintain them.
But those costs would eventually fall on the royal family.
Allen did not feel comfortable receiving a reward from them in such a situation.
"Oh."
Shea looked to her side and let her voice out.
This was the first time Allen acted this way in the 3 days she had known him.
He was very thorough with his plans when hunting monsters, but he also had a rather respectable attitude towards some things.
"I insist."
The king also joined in the conversation.
He felt a duty to reward the hero that had rescued his country after all.
"I can't, it's too soon to thank me either way. The situation isn't fully taken care of, so we can talk about this again once things calm down. But I'll be expecting fifty percent more than your current offer then."
He smiled as he added the last bit in a joking manner.
That was mainly an excuse though, a way to decline the reward without making the royal family feel shame in it.
But if they returned into being a wealthy country, Allen would have no qualms requesting the bonus.
He decided to keep a mental note to not forget about it.
The king nodded as well, satisfied with that outcome.
(Good good, now I can go back to kill more monsters then. Hm?)
Allen was getting ready to leave already.
But he noticed a purple gem glowing on Princess Carmin's arm.
He noticed it was unusually shiny.
"Oh? Ah, you're looking at this. This is Makris' Sacred Bead."
The princess had noticed Allen's glance.
"Ohhh... Is it the same Tear of the Sacred Fish Makris from the fairy tale?"
Tear of the Sacred Fish Makris was the name used in the Prostia Empire picture book, but its real name was Makris' Sacred Bead.
"Yes!"
Princess Carmin looked happy that other countries saw her homeplace with such interest and admiration.
(Ohh, so that's the gem that can buy an entire kingdom then.)
As far as Allen knew, Makris' Sacred Bead was one of the most valuable items in the entire world.
In terms of his past life, it was similar to a large ancient and historical diamond.
Clebeur used to be a territory owned by another country.
The king wanted to own a Makris' Sacred Bead so badly that he divided a third part of his kingdom, which he exchanged for a gem.
Its bright shiny color was an emblem of prestige for the royal family.
It was custom for the king of Clebeur to give one to his daughter too.
"I see. It's such a beautiful gem."
"Oh let me do this, feel free to look at it as much as you want."
Saying that, Princess Carmin took off her bracelet and gave it to a servant who carried it to Allen.
"Ohh! What a pretty purple color. It doesn't look like a teardrop at all."
Seeing the beautiful gem up close, Allen understood why so many kings wanted to get their hands on one.
But he also wondered how a fish's teardrop could turn into such a beautiful purple crystal.
Allen kept nodding to himself as he turned the bracelet to look at the gem from all sides, and held it against the light too.
Cecile was enamored with the Prostia Empire tale.
She had made Allen read it too, so he still remembered the main details.
To sum up the story itself in as few words as possible, it was an unfulfilled love story.
The crown prince of the empire, Makris, fell in love with Diadora, a girl from a small town.
Makris confessed his love to her, but seeing their difference in status, Diadora was too afraid to accept his feelings and rejected him.
The emperor was also against their relationship, forcing Makris away from her, but after many twists and turns they reunited and this time swore love to each other.
But that was not the end of the tale.
A demonic monster that was sealed in the depths of the ocean came free and attempted to destroy Prostia.
Makris asked the Goddess of Water Aqua for power in an attempt to protect the country and his beloved Diadora.
The Goddess agreed, under one condition.
She would grant Makris power, but he would need to turn into a fish.
Makris did not mind that, forming a pact with the Goddess and turning into a gigantic fish. He fought a grueling battle against the monster, eventually succeeding in sealing it away once again, rescuing the empire and Diadora.
He tried going to visit his beloved Diadora as a fish, but he had not told her about his pact with the Goddess beforehand.
The moment Diadora saw the enormous fish, she was filled with fear and ran away.
Realizing he could never be together with her again, Makris shed a large tear, which turned into a crystal.
That crystal was then called the Tear of the Sacred Fish Makris.
As far as Allen remembered, the tale ended with the Sacred Fish Makris swimming in solitude around the empire forever, protecting the country where his beloved Diadora was born.
That was the first book Cecile gave Allen after he learned to read, her eyes twinkling as she watched him leaf through it.
She really wanted to hear his opinion on it, so she watched him read through the entire book in one sitting.
His first reaction was to wonder if the Prostia Empire actually existed, though he understood why it was such a staple in most households.
It existed not only in Grandvelle's library, but even commoners of the kingdom knew about it, especially every girl, since it contained an important detail for them.
That being that the royal family always cares for the common folk, and exists to protect the people.
But also that the couple was forced to not remain together because they were of different social standing...
Allen remembered saying all that to Cecile.
But that was completely different from what she expected to hear.
Before he could finish saying all his thoughts, Cecile shouted "I'll kill you!" and began clobbering his head.
Allen seriously thought he would die that day.
But it was still a sad story that brought a tear to the eye just thinking about it, or hearing it mentioned, or talking about it.
"Cecile, wanna look at it too?"
(This is the Tear of the Sacred Fish Makris you love so much.)
Cecile had always been talking about it, so Allen decided to show it to her.
"Huh?! Ah, what?!"
(What's gotten into her?)
Allen held the bracelet to her so she could take it, but Cecile's face turned beet red and she recoiled in shock, almost standing up.
Seeing Cecile's red face, Prince Carmin turned to look at the king.
He nodded, which she interpreted as him giving his approval.
"Allen, you may keep that bracelet. It's yours now."
"Huh? You're giving this to me?"
"Yes, we have trade routes with the Prostia Empire. While they're rare, we can acquire another one."
Before Allen could refuse by saying it was too valuable to take, Prince Carmin assured him there was more she could get.
Not to mention that the Prostia Empire would not be able to argue with the transaction if it was done that way.
"Umm...but it's so valuable..."
He muttered and turned to look at Princess Shea.
He was worried he was being compensated too much while she got nothing.
Many lives had been saved thanks to him.
But Princess Shea and her men had been fighting fiercely for longer, and had suffered more losses. Allen felt like it was only thanks to their efforts that he was able to help them in the end.
"Hm? Don't worry about me. I still plan on staying on friendly terms with Clebeur after this. I can't just cash out my reward."
As she said that, she looked at the king, her eyes like that of a tiger stalking its prey, and her smile exposing her fangs.
"?!"
The king twitched, feeling that gaze on him.
It was hard to say whether their relationship would be the healthiest in the future.
"Also I prefer yellow. Purple doesn't match me well."
(Can anyone really complain about the color when it's such a beautiful gem though?)
Allen had no interest in jewelry, but even he could admire the beauty of Makris' Sacred Bead.
But Princess Shea did not seem to like it.
(A bracelet...I wish Peromus was here so he could tell me its true value. Can I really take it though?)
Peromus worked as a merchant, and had a Skill that allowed him to appraise the value of items.
No one in Allen's party had such a Skill, so after they went to the S Rank Dungeon, they had to go to a pawn shop in the city to figure out how much everything they obtained was worth.
"Please, take it. We received a message from the empire earlier telling us they'll help us rebuild the country anyway."
Princess Carmin figured Allen was hesitant to accept the gem, as it was common knowledge that one was worth many millions of gold coins.So she informed her the future of the country was secure.
Apparently they had contacted the empire with a magic device when they arrived at Carulo.
The people of Clebeur all came from the Prostia Empire.
The royal family were also the descendants of a duke from Prostia, who was related to the emperor.
While the rumors of a rebellion in Clebeur had made them slightly suspicious, they were more than willing to help after hearing of the disaster that occurred.
Selling the Makris' Sacred Bead could easily net them millions of gold coins, but the help of Prostia would be enough as well.
Relations between Clebeur and Prostia might become slightly tricky once everything calmed down, but Allen had saved the lives of millions of people, so the royal family wanted to reward him in kind.
"I see."
Allen stared at the bracelet, wondering if he still had any way to refuse it, and then noticed the rings he was wearing.
The gem in the bracelet was too big for a ring.
(A bracelet... If it has any extra properties I hope it gets added on top of the rings, since it's a different type of equipment.)
It was only possible to wear two rings that enhanced one's stats.
The last boss of the S Rank Dungeon had dropped a necklace, so Allen had been on the hunt for necklaces now.
While the king still watched him, Allen decided to wear the bracelet real quick to see if it had any effect.
"Huh?"
"Is something wrong?"
The moment he wore the bracelet with Makris' Sacred Bead, he felt his stats going up.
Princess Carmin spoke to him, but he ignored her, hurrying to open his Grimoire and checking his current stats.
"Whoah?! This is crazy! What's going on?"
There was a very clear change in his stats.
Some numbers had gone up, but there were some new entries in the list of active effects.
Reading them made him raise his voice in surprise.
Effects of Makris' Sacred Bead (Bracelet):
Cast time for offensive magic halved Cooldowns halved Mana + 5000 Intelligence +5000
(What does that mean? My cooldowns are halved? Oh wait, I think I heard something about that before.)
He recalled one lesson in the Academy where he was taught that some items existed that could shorten the cooldowns of Skills.
But so far he had never found one dropped by a monster, or sold at auction.
Maybe the reason why such an item had eluded him for so long that he almost dismissed it as a fake rumor, was because the Sacred Beads were only traded between kings with Clebeur's royal family.
(I guess that's the power millions of gold coins can fetch you. Would this mean that wearing two of these bracelets would nullify the cooldowns entirely? No, probably only down to a fourth the time, but that's more than enough! I wonder if that applies to Extra Skills too?)
Even in his past life, there were times when Allen would desperately gather items for years, only for them to become essentially trash.
Sometimes an update would introduce far better items than what he currently held.
Somehow he was feeling something similar now.
He was filled with excitement wondering just what new shiny things he could obtain now.
He felt like this bracelet outclassed every item he had found so far.
Even the Mana Regeneration Ring felt inferior to Makris' Sacred Bead.
"Do you like it?"
"O-of course!"
Realizing how valuable and powerful that bracelet was, Allen had no intention of returning it anymore.
"Well..."
Saying that, Princess Carmin turned to look at Cecile.
She was suggesting she should have it.
(That's true. Cecile can probably get a lot more out of it than me.)
"Cecile, it's actually an amazing item."
"Hya?!"
"Catch," Allen said shortly before gently throwing the bracelet towards Cecile.
She yelped in a voice Allen had never heard before, her face flushed red as she struggled to keep the bracelet still in her hand.
The gem twinkled brightly as the bracelet seemed to dance above Cecile's nervous hands.
