Chapter 18: Rewards

Around a month after the reveal of countess Maira being the brain behind the attacks on princess Gloriosa, a special all kingdom meeting was being held for granting rewards to me and Goli.

During this ome month several nobles were put under arrest on charges of treason and many other crimes. The information given us by the Mage slayer revealed more nobles secretly working with the prince who cursed Rinbell in Ostillian kingdom and from what I heard from Gloriosa, a massive purge was carried out in the Sorcery kingdom and the second prince was disinherited and banished from the kingdom.

"So you will recieve a rank up?" Kiira asked.

"Yep, and Goli will too."

"Makes sence since she was the one who finished the culprit. Did you discussed the rank she will recieve with the king?" Taru asked.

"Yep."

"And what is it?"

"That's a secret," I placed my index finger on my lips and smiled.

"Of course it it…" Goli sulked a little.

"Ah, don't worry, I made sure you will like it," I winked at her.

Soon after that we arrived at the royal castle and were dirrectly lead to the audience chamber where all the big shots of the kingdom were gathered.

Walking up to the throne where the kings of both kingdoms were stationed with their Knight captains by their sides, both of which were female trolls surprisingly. Next to the kings, were also their daughters that were intrerrested in this matter, Victina and Gloriosa. Their height difference was slightly evened by Gloriosas high heels.

"Everyone, I'm glad you've come on such a short notice, but as this is international matter, I hope you will understand."

"At your will, sire!" the nobles returned the greetings.

After that the king explained what happend and how it was resolved and as he was talking, the nobles present were changing colors from white to green to white again until finaly stopping at the more or less acceptable colors.

"With all that happening, we can not leave the main hero in this story without any rewards! Leonard Hirano Dragonrose! Golilgri Pendra, step forward!"

"As you wish, sire!" we separated from our group and came under stairs to the throne.

"In recognition of your bravery as well as quick wits that stopped many demonic plots, I grant Count Leonard Hirano Dragonrose the title of Earl and grant him the Earldom of Zainred which is currently in my holding. From now on it shall be known as Dragonrose Earldom."

"I humbly accept."

The nobles behind us started claping their hands, not much becouse they wanted, but becouse the etiquete required it.

"Further more, I shall bestow upon you Ostillian kingdom's mithril medal of the Brave man. Seeing you still do not have a fiancée of high standing, I also hereby declare my daughter Victina to be your first fiancée. Let us all meet at the anouncement ball in four days."

He didn't even let me say anything! Not like I want to or anything, but still!

"I humbly accept."

"Glad to hear that!" the king laughed softly and turned to his counterpart, the king of Sorcery kingdom, "Now is your turn, king of the Sorcery kingdom Aimach Garnet Kawaka."

Ah, I get it…

"Sir Dragonrose, your help in discovering traitors of our kingdom without even entering it, is truely remarkable feat! If not bound to this place by your loved ones, I would gladly make you my successor… however I shall refrain for today."

Hold up! What did you just say?! Me? And a king?! I didn't even learn how govern one city how do you figure I could be a king eh?! Could you please keep in mind place and time… wait, did he say for today?!!!

"Anyhow, I herby grant you the title of Hononary Royal wizard! Let this mithril wand be the the sign of your title!" as the king of Sorcery kingdom declared so, his servant brought me a wand made from green translucent wood and mithril handle. There also was a ruby on the other side, which was actually a Fool's stone, a failed Philosofers stone, simply put. I have so many of these back home…

"In addition, I herby proclaim my daughter Gloriosa to be sir Dragonrose's second fiancée!"

Yep. I was expecting that…

"...…I humbly accept…" noticing the glare behind me, and smiles before me, I secretly prayed to goddess of life to help me with my struggle, though as I knew the gods, they were probably laughing as hard as they could.

"Don't throw me in same bag with those imbeciles..."

A voice suddenly echoed in my head, but I decided to ignore it, les I would have a headache for many days to come.

And so, my rewards were handed out and next one to recieve honors was Goli.

"Now, for the amazing feat of defeating Demonized human who was culprit of this all, we shall raise the rank of Golilgri Pendra from Hononary Chevalier to Hononary Baroness! Such a feat is something not seen every day, henceforth, by my decree as the king I grant permission to Hononary Baroness Golilgri Pendra's oldest child to succeed her title and became Baron Pendra in the future!"

"Hm—?! I–I humbly accept!!!" Goli, who got caught off guard, almost commited an unbefiting act, but corrected her posture almost instantly.

'Loyalty have leveled up. Subject [Golilgri] is now at highest possible level. Due to relationship between Subject and User, [Soul binding] has been established.'

Yep, this is a killing intent I was expecting… kinda late, but what ever.

With this, the rewards were handed out and came time for punishments. And as it did not concern me, I let the girls around me scold me to their hearts content. Though I did not expect to have Goli hold my hand the entire time. That may have been the reason why the scolding took so long.

In the end, fifteen noble houses were disbanded, their heads arrested and depending on severity of their crime even put to death. Though most of them were hiring assassins so depending on rank of the target death penalties could start flying left and right.

The kingdom will be slightly understaffed, but the quality will rise… I hope it will be a good thing for the future.

When the conference was ended, I was escorted to Prime minister's office to discuss the territory I was given.

"Ah, sir Dragonrose, sorry I'm late, I had some bussiness to take care of back home so I could not make it for your big day," the prime minister politely nodded his head.

"It's alright, Lord Magmy, I've heard your son already took over for you as Archduke, I wish him luck from the deepest part of my heart."

"You are too kind, sir Dragonrose, I will pass down your words, however… what is that?" prime minister pointed at Goli, Taru and Kiira who were holding onto me with iron grip.

"They didn't took the news about Goli's gift the best way. As for Goli… I guess you can see."

Becouse two princesses were my fiancées now, it meant that Taru and Kiira were pushed lower in the line to borderline concubines. If our marriage was done under matrimony law, the kids would be born to their families instead of mine but as their titles are hononary they would have to do something simmilar to Goli to recieve same permission from the king. As things stand now, under matrimony law the children born to us would became commoners and if they were born into my family, they wouldn't be much better.

"Ah, always popular I see. Anyway, let's discuss the territory."

"Yes let's do that," I sit down on sofa, the girls still holding onto me. Prime minister in the meantime took out several documents and a map of the kingdom.

"As you can see, the Zainre— pardon me, the Dragonrose Earldom, compose from three bigger towns with it's capital being the most western town of Zainrose."

"That's where the Survival expedition will be held, right?"

"Yes, that's correct miss Seadraga. Though becouse it's such a short notice we will be dispatching knights to make it safer for the rest of the first years," Prime minister said to Taru before turning back to Leo who spoke before him.

"We don't know what kind of monsters will appear in that Monster nest… I will dispatch some of my guards too."

"That would be appreciated, sir Dragonrose. Anyway, as you can see the northern border of the territory is protected by mountains and to the south and west are royal lands. However to the east are Barren lands."

Barren lands. As their name suggests it is a place where nothing prosper. Lands like these are filled with miasma which births monsters which in turn get stronger by absorbing said miasma. One could meet Mithril green or Adamantite blue ranked monsters ruling over section of such lands quite often and their numbers were also pretty high. For every Mithril green rank monster you could imagine one hundread Gold ranked monsters being nearby. Of course to purify such lands one would need tremendous quantities of magic power as well as power to defeat such monsters. In other words a little something that Leo and his group have pleanty off.

Monster nests on the other hand were smaller versions of Barren lands and monsters in them were mostly Bronze ranked at best. One could say that when the Forest Dragon appeared near Roseburg, it was an exeption above exaptions.

"I see. We will need greater power to protect the cities. What kind of people even rule those cities?"

"That would be these. The ones you will most likely meet are these three Viscounts, but you may run into a baron or two as well."

"Should I be vary of someone?"

"Not really. Viscount Ville and Viscount Heath are muscleheads to a letter, so just beat them up and you will be golden."

Is that something you should say about nobles who guard our lands from monsters, prime minister? Leo thought and took the papers the prime minister gave him.

"And this… viscount Noman?"

"He's the de facto ruler of the region. He's also a relative of the Orchidee ducal family."

"Who?"

"The guy you riddiculed at the entry exam day… what was his name again?"

"Don't act like you know everything when you don't even remember his name Kiira."

"I can't help it, I heard it from Nina and she was calling him a Little pest."

"It's Julius, but that's not important now. At the school is also viscount Nomans younger daughter it would be good for you to contact her."

"I guess that is a good idea, what class is she in?"

"Class D, but it's belived that she will rise to class C in second semester."

"And how do you know that miss Seadraga? These informations should be confidential within the faculty," prime minister shot Taru a sidelong glance.

"Well, we know a thing or two becouse we hear a thing or two," I smiled at him fakely.

"One wise man once said, I haven't seen anything, I haven't hear anything and if you pay me I even wasn't here. Though, you could pay him to see and hear everything."

"And make records for a fat bonus," Taru and Kiira smiled smugly.

I used to say quite the lines in my past life, eh? Glad she remembers it, Leo remembered his dark high school past, a past which Taru coincidentally reffered to as 'the Golden years'.

"Don't you want to work for our espionage then? We pay well… though I guess that can wait," the prime minister probably felt a presence of few fluffy eared friends Leo had follow him for message reports.

He's sharp, who would have thought he's just level 30… wait, I get it… Leo smiled as he realized what was happening before him.

"You used a skill. A detection type I guess?"

"Heheh, you are correct, sir Dragonrose. I posses a unique skill called Diviner, you see? Anything unseen is clear as day to me."

"That's quite a skill alright. Anyway, I would like to get the reports about the territory send to my home rháther then discuss it here, I'm sure you have a lot of work too."

"It has already been send, actually. Only thing to do now is to alter your coat of arms."

"Couldn't we just add two White lions to sides to hold it?"

"Th-that would do…" the prime minister nodded to Leo as he was about to leave.

White lions. Powerful and majestic monsters widely known for their strenght and ability to fly with their white eagle like wings. That being said, except for the wings they were just slightly bigger lions. Some believed that they were related to Gryphins, but there were no actual evidences for that theory as the two species lived in completly different enviroments and there were no known documentations of the two crossbreeding.

For many people the White lions were symbol of power and prestige, simmilar to dragons, but there was also a legend from mythological times. In this legend, a king of a nation traveled far and wide to look for a cure for his beloved wife. As this king was traveling through some dangerous land, he saw a White lion fighting with enourmous dragon. The king helped the lion defeat the dragon and they became friends soon after. This new friend helped the king find medicine for his wife and they returned together to the kings home, but the queen was already dead by the time they returned. The king was heartbroken. With nothing more in his life he wanted to take his life, but was stopped by the lion. The lion jumped onto the bed where the queen died and used it's claws to rip open it's chest, crushing his heart within. The king could only watch with horror as his best friend died right before his eyes, but that was only until the time that the dead body started glowing. The light rose in power and consumed the entire room. Once it died down, the lion was gone and the queen opened her eyes.

To think he would know of such story… don't tell me that he know about the fact that the battle between the lion and dragon was actually fought in the mountains to north from the earldom?! the prime minister thought to himself with a worried smile. Maybe he even know that that legendary king and queen are burried somewhere over there…

Once Leo returned to his home he send out order to Sea dragonfolks and Moon rabbits to prepare for leave for the earldom within next two weeks. While Leo was at it, he also took tests in his subjects in school so he could take a leave from school, attended the engagement party and to blow off some steam, he wiped out three Boss class monsters in Gruben dungeon.

"Lord Earl, there is someone wishing to see you," Setto entered the room where Leo was sitting above papers with reports from his territory.

"Who is it?"

"Someone called Misha Gard Noman, Clare De Ville and Monica Von Heath, should I send them away?"

"No, they are daughters of my new subjects in the earldom. It would be unwise to send them away so please show them in. Daika please brew some tea and bring in some cookies too."

"Yes, sire," the two of them bowed in unison and left the room.

"Now… I have reports about the crop yield, monster sighting and their supression… this doesn't add up…" As Leo was doing math in his head there was a knock on the doors and three young ladies entered the room.

"It's good to meet you, lord Dragonrose, my name is Misha Gard Noman, daughter of Viscount Noman," a golden haired beauty with deep blue eyes said with an elegant bow.

"I'm Claire De Ville, it's a pleasure to meet you," the second girl, Claire, which was one year older, gave a military style salute, her short red hairs fluttering as she did.

"My name is Minica Von Heathu," the shortest and at the same time oldest girl in the group stutered and her cheeks turned crimson, "I mean, Monica Von Heath, daughter of viscount Von Heath. I'm glad we got to make aquaitance."

"The pleasure is all mine, young ladies. My name is Leonard Hirano Dragonrose. I may be above you in noble standing, but please treat me as you would any other classmate. We are simmilar age too, after all."

"If you wish for it."

"Okay!"

"Y-yess…"

The trio gave their agreement in their very unique way. Monica however seemed more happy then the remaining two. That was for the simple reason of her being one of the members of Leo's fanclub. Withouth Leo's realizing, the fanclub that started with just few tens of first years grew up to nearly a hundread people. Of course they were not just the people Leo saved, but also those who were brought in by his charm, like for example one very stalker-ish girl in B class. Monica herself was brought in by going with the flow of her two friends, but now her dormant fan girl awoke and only time would tell if it was for good or not.

"So, tell me what brought you here today. I'm still studying the state of affairs in the earldom before visiting myself, so I would like to return to it."

"Oh? Is that the reason why you took leave from school?"

"That is indeed the case."

"I just came to spar with you!"

"Claire…" Misha sighted as she supported her head with tips of her fingers.

"I thought so. And you two?"

"I wanted to ask about the Survival expedition. It will be held in White peak mountains… that monster nest is really dangerous so I'm wondering if it will be okay."

"I understand your unease. Usually the knights would dispatch the more powerful monsters and the students would only fight with the weakened ones."

"Yes…"

"No need to worry. This time we will have my personally trained knights. Each and every one of them is above level 45."

"Oh! That's reassuring, thank you sir," Misha bowed on her seat.

"That leaves you as the last one, miss Monica. Why did you come here?"

"I-I just wanted to get to know you, sir!" she stammered out with cheeks flushed in deep red color.

"I see, then let us have a long and productive talk!" a happy smile appeared on face of a person standing here the entire time behind the trio.

"Oh, hey there Alette, how did your training go?" Leo asked as if it was the most normal thing in the world. The trio before him was completly surprised and maybe taken aback a little, seeing Alette's cute smile.

"MmHmm… she went out in battle gear. We need to speak at lenght," Nina, the other person who appeared seemingly out of thin air looked at Monica up close.

Without a second delay, the two of them kidnaped Monica who still wasn't able to speak up and was carried away by the two.

"Um… what did just?" Claire was the first one to shake off her surprise, just like a propper knight.

"Ah, it seems like they think she came to seduce me so they will hold a meeting with my other fiancées. If you wish you can join their talk," as Leo said that, the two shook their heads strongly, "I see, in that case should we go to the backyard for our match?"

"Huh? But, didn't you say you are learning about the territory?" Misha asked with surprise.

"Oh, belive it or not I'm good at multitasking. And it's not like I'm against Lulu or Kiira to make me go all out."

"Are you underestimating me?"

"Oh, no, not at all. But as you might know, a level differency above fifteen levels is conscidered gap impossible to reach for everyone."

"So you want me to give up?!" Claire blew of with rage.

"When did I say this? All I'm saying is to know your limits. If you do, you may grow even further."

"What?"

"It's rare to see someone our age above level twenty. You must've trained hard to get to level 39, that's why I will fight with you."

"To be honest, if you were level 25 or below Leo would just pick a proxy," Taru came to the room carrying a pack of letters.

"Hey there Taru, did you siff it already?"

"Yeah, I only left Earl and above marriage proposals."

"Yeah, I need to respond to those personally… what a pain," Leo, for the first time showed a face of distaste.

"There are also some who wish to become your vassals, should I reply negatively?"

"Did they send apprisal list?"

Apprisal list is an item declaring your status clean of any crime titles or simmilarly unfitting ones. In other words, it works simmilarly to earths criminal records.

"Some of them did."

"Turn back anyone who did not send it or those who seem like they are after our secrets. The rest can be called for personal interview."

"Yes, sir!" Taru saluted with a silly grin.

"But for now, take a rest and go have tea with everyone. I belive you are for quite an interresting time," Leo smiled as he patted Taru and left the room with the two girls in tow.

The three went through the mansion until they got out into the garden which had many not native plants in it. No need to say that they were alteared by Leo's Nature magic and Nature manipulation.

"Oh, these roses are amazing! I never saw such a unique patterns!" Misha almost melted with bliss as she took a sniff of blue cobweb rose.

"Ah, these roses. We were selectively breeding them for past several years."

Actually it took me ten minutes with Nature manipulation skill, Leo thought to himself and went through arc of bushes dividing the garden into two parts.

Once they walked through this arc, the scenery completly changed. Instead of a garden, a giant training field spread over the entire place. Also a sound of swords could suddenly be heard, which confused the two girls.

"Welcome to my training facility. This is where my guards are trained," the two girls just nodded silently and walked behind Leo who smiled at them.

The trio walked to the area which was slightly elevated from the ground. On it, a white circle could be seen from above. Right now two fighters were exchanging blows,

A pillar of flames rose into air and got quickly blocked by a barrier. In quick succession after that several ice lances shot in the opposite side.

"Oh, boss! You came for a look?" one of the Sea dragonfolk smiled at Leo as the trio approached.

"Yeah, a daughter of one of my new retainers wished for a duel so we came here. It's Idra and Goli, right? Haven't see them duel in a long time."

"It indeed was. One entire month, actually. I've heard you will be going to your new terriory later this week, boss. Will we be dispatching our forces?"

"No, it's just a formal visit. From what I could tell, the town is simmilar to Roseburg so our stay should be pleasant."

"You plan to visit Zainrose?"

"Yes, miss Misha. Would you be willing to write about it to your father? I would appreciate it."

"Y-yes I will!" Misha nodded enthustiacly.

"Oh, it seems like the duel ended," as the Dragonfolks words pulled everyones eyes to the arena where Idra was disarmed and Goli was poiting her Dragon scale spear at his neck.

Leo, while clapping walked to the area. "Good work you two."

"My thanks, sir!" Idra instantly saluted even though his breath was still a little ragged.

"Willy ou be using the area now? It's little damaged though," Goli run up to Leo and took towel from him while smiling charmingly.

"Well, that's not really a problem," Leo smiled back and snaped his fingers. In the next moment the area glowed with purplish light and instantly repaired itself.

Th-that was certainly above intermediate level spell and it was chantless!! Our new Earl is stronger then I thought…

"You okay Misha?"

"Hm? Ah, yes. I was just lost in thought a little."

"Well, I'm going, wish me luck… I will need it," for a moment, Claire's voice sounded as if she was walking to the choping block.

"I will. May the grace of Sword god guide you," Misha nodded and started praying.

Hm? She don't have that much magical energy, but she definitively have a lot of divine energy around her… well not as much as Taru and Alette, but she may one day be able to use Holy magic. Leo thought as he looked at the two girls standing under the arena.

"You may pick any sword and armor that you fancy."

"Oh, okay… hey this thing is heavy!!!" Claire yelled out with a surprise.

"Well, duh. Wooden swords are too light for training. You don't get the muscles you need from them. These swords, while are also made from wood, we used a heavy wood and enchanted it with wight adjustment spell."

"I never knew such a spell exited," Misha covered her mouth with a surprise.

"That's becouse I made it."

"You what?!"

"Aah, I get this look a lot. I just like to experiment with my magical powers and try what they can do. You see when I can't do something and there is no spell for it, I usually make a spell to help. Now, for our duel, if you want some lighter equipment I should have some in my storage… yeah, take this."

"Um, thank you…" Claire nodded and obediently put on leather chestplate, shoulder pads gloves and leather cap reinfored with metal bands.

"Alright. Ready when you are," Leo spread his arms holding only a wooden pointer the size of a walking stick in his right hand.

"Won't you at least put some armor on?"

"Hahahah…"

"She's funny…"

"Sorry, I can't… buhahahahahahaaaah!"

The soldiers around started laughing.

"Now, now. Remember that when we trained for the first time you were also confident, and we know how that went, right? As for you miss Claire, let me correct one thing. For you this may be a duel, but for me this is a practice. If you manage to learn something from our exchanges, then it will be good for you."

"Huh?!"

"I mean, I can see your status so I know what you are capable of, skill-wise. However, skills are not everything in battle. If you surprise me, I will reward you, what do you say?"

"Fine! Here I come!" Claire barked out and broke into run.

However as her level was barely past 30 it looked more like a walk to all the soldiers who were used to looking at Leo's high speed battles. She delivered a chop from above and the moment Leo dodged she spun her body for a kick. Usually this would be conscidered a way no knight would fight, but given her upbringing on borders with Barren lands this was a way you would fight a monster in order to survive.

"Oh, nice reaction, however," Leo smiled as the leg moved towards his head. In one swift movement he grabbed Claire's leg and flung it upwards, which made her lost balance. Leo continued with striking her in her abdomen with his fist, which send her flying back to her previous position.

Claire's ungraceful fall was quickly replaced by her trying to get back up.

"I… won't… STOP!" giving herself courage for one more attack she broke into run once more. "HAH!"

When she got about halfway to Leo she threw her sword, dived low and accelerated her run. However, Leo used his pointer to flung the sword away with one swing and turned to Claire who got behind him.

"ORRRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!"

Claire tried to go for a punch, but Leo stoped it with his plam. Then, by simply bending his hand down, he forced Claire to take a knee, less she wanted to break her bones.

"Good effort, but this is the end," Leo smiled warmly at Claire and swung his pointer at her head, knocking her unconscious instantly.

***

It was evening by the time Claire woke up.

"Where… am I?"

"Claire! I'm glad you woke up already!" Misha, with tears in her eyes.

"Hey it's not like I would destroy her."

"Sir Dragonrose…" Claire had a bitter smile on her face, "so I lost…"

"I wouldn't say that so readily. You standing up after that punch isn't something normal human could do. I believe that you would do great if you were able to bring out your high endurance."

"Y-you mean…"

"Yeah, I shall reward you for your efforts. From this day on, you are allowed to train with my knights. I expect you to grow, but remember we don't accept slackers, okay?" Leo smiled once again, "Well, I will take my leave. Feel free to use this room however long you want, but if you want to stay for diner, inform the maid next door."

Leo left with a wave and the girls remained alone in the room.

"I'm so happy for you Claire," Misha sit next to her friend on the bed.

"Yeah… I was out for quite a long time, huh? Have you talked about something interresting?" Claire leaned on her friend and closed her eyes contently.

"Yeah. Sir Dragonrose said I apparently have aptitude for Holy Magic so lady Tarumipemi will be training me."

"I see… I guess was the one who healed me too?"

"Yes," Misha's hand gently touched Claire's hand and their fingers intertwined.

***

Around a week later, Leo and his group met up at Capitals gates. Apart from the usual group, Leo's brother, now Baron Noel Arwin Netrose, came by as well.

"So are you sure you want to travel alone?" Kiira asked, visibly worried.

"Yeah. Once I get to Zainrose I will open a gate so we will be able to see each other soon."

"Be careful brother. And about the thing we talked before, do you think it will be doable?" Noel asked with a gleam of hope in his eye.

"Of course. I will look around the city and send you some samples," the two brothers grinned to each other.

"Thanks. Also, I finished refining the liquid you wanted. Please check the quality," Noel handed Leo a barrel from his Item Box.

"That shape… this smell… wait, is that gasoline?!" Taru instantly caught up what was happening.

"Not quite. This thing was refined with liquidized magic stones, so even a single drop can take you from here to Roseburg."

"Wait… if you have gasoline, do you have a car too?" Kiira's eyes sparkled.

"Heheh, glad you asked," Leo extended his hand to empty space and took out from his Garage a motorbike, "I planned to make a car first but this was easier."

Maybe due to being acustomed to Leo's weird antics already, everyone gave him a rather weak responses.

"Wow, what a tough crowd I have here," Leo smiled bitterly and poured the gasoline in tank, "Well, I'm off. If everything goes according to my plan, everything will be resolved soon."

"We wish you luck!"

"See you soon!"

As everyone was waving towards disappearing Leo, no one could know what would happen in the capital the very next day.