An ordinary profession creates the world's strongest

Yue's proposal was very sincere, and Kaori understood that she was thinking about herself and her family. She was very grateful and agreed to her proposal.

"She's really cunning with this personality... Should I say she's mature? Or perhaps I should say she has the demeanor of a first wife..."

Kaori said with a pout, but she looked somewhat happy.

This ambiguous and complex expression reveals not only the unwillingness of being a love rival but not as good as Yue, but also the love and trust as a friend.

"Is that so... Then Shizuku too?"

Ryuutarou looked a bit embarrassed and turned to Shizuku, who blushed slightly and started to act coy, looking a bit uncomfortable.

"...Well, one day, I guess?"

"Because Miss Shizuku has become the boss's woman! Hiro, you must show some respect to the boss's family!"

"Ms. Lana, I told you not to talk about me like that! That sounds like a gangster!"

"But... judging from Nagumo's current demeanor, it wouldn't be wrong to call him a gangster, right?"

"How could even Endo-san say that! Don't forget, if he's the gang boss, you're just his thug!"

"Uh, well, that's a bit... hmm."

Kousuke looked away awkwardly. Kaori glanced at Shizuku and smiled brightly. Perhaps this was one of the reasons their relationship had improved—Rin concluded this in her mind, imagining all sorts of things and feeling a bit excited.

In order to change the indescribable subtle atmosphere at the scene, Kosuke clapped his hands, stood up, and took out the key to the "Space Gate" from his arms.

"Goodbye, Xiaohao. I'll be back tomorrow too."

"Well, Lana, I'll be waiting for you."

After a while of saying goodbye to Lana, the two of them were already talking like a married couple. Noticing the warm looks around him, Kosuke coughed shyly.

Then, just as he was about to activate the "Space Gate"...

"Hey, hey, hey, you guys aren't planning on just leaving like this, are you!?"

Gaharud rushed in with an anxious look on his face.

"Ah, it's Your Majesty. What can I do for you?"

Shizuku asked, showing a bit of reluctance. A vein popped on Gaharud's forehead.

"Still asking!? Didn't we agree to remove the royal necklace after the peace treaty is concluded?!"

"……ah."

"You actually forgot everything!?"

Shizuku's eyes shifted awkwardly, apparently she'd truly forgotten. And since no one mentioned it, perhaps everyone except Lana had forgotten. Everyone sighed in agreement.

“Pfft… The lives of the royal family are at stake, and yet they’re being treated with such disregard…!”

Lana couldn't help laughing. Gaharud glared at her murderously.

"In order to establish a friendly coexistence, we cannot allow the lives of the royal family to continue to be threatened by the artifact. What we should truly pursue is a friendly relationship of equals—that's what you, Feyalbergen, said yourself!"

──A necklace of pledge.

This refining artifact, imbued with soul magic, can compel the royal family to free slaves and prohibit them from persecuting demihumans. Violating the terms of the oath will result in the death of the person without explanation.

When Kam and others successfully captured the imperial city, they threatened the royal family to wear this necklace.

Later we agreed to take off the necklaces for them on this day.

This was Alfred's proposal, which was approved by the elders' meeting, and Cam also agreed.

Now, the royal family gathered in another room and waited.

The artifact needed to remove the necklace is currently being kept temporarily by Shizuku.

"I, I haven't forgotten."

"..."

Shizuku's excuse was far-fetched. Gaharud half-closed his eyes and stared at Shizuku coldly.

To smooth things over, Shizuku coughed dryly and took out the "treasure vault".

"Your Majesty, let me see if I can remove your necklace."

Without a reply, Gahalud took out a necklace from his collar.

Shizuku picked up a short, baton-like artifact and touched the ruby ​​on the necklace with the tip.

Then, the baton and the ruby ​​glowed at the same time, and after a few seconds, the light faded.

"That should be enough."

"Really?"

If you take this artifact without permission, you will die. No wonder Jaharud hesitated.

"Don't be so fussy, just give it a try and you'll know!!"

“Ah, you… stop it!”

Lana approached silently and quickly took off Gaharud's necklace.

"That's just how the Hauriya people are...!" Jaharud cursed. But...

"Looks like it's all right, right?"

Ryuutarou was a little frightened by Lana's horrific behavior. Seeing that Gaharud seemed to be fine, he said this with relief.

It looked like Jaharud wasn't going to go crazy or struggle, so there should be no problem.

Gaharud, who had been holding his breath nervously, finally exhaled deeply.

Lana's behavior had frightened him to the point of nearly shortening his lifespan, and he couldn't bear the thought of this, so he decided to punish her. A rebellious smile appeared on his face, and he spoke in a threatening, half-joking tone.

"Is this how I can get my revenge?"

It wasn't Lana who replied, but Shizuku.

"By the way, Your Majesty, Hajime sent me a message. He said, 'You'd better not cause trouble. If you want to turn back the clock, I will give the meteorite and the Hyperion, along with control, to the Hauria tribe.'"

“Peace is really important.”

Jaharud spoke with a stern expression, his voice firm and unwavering. As expected of a leader of a nation where power reigns supreme.

"What? This is your chance to receive a gift from the boss. Come on!"

But Miss Lana continued to provoke, she is really worthy of being Hauria.

"Shut up, you Hauria! Haven't you already received a lot of divine artifacts?! All ours were shattered! Don't be too greedy!"

Gaharud stamped his feet, looking really unhappy.

As he had said, during the Mythological War, all the artifacts that Hajime had meticulously crafted and generously provided in large quantities had been taken back or destroyed.

This is the necessary action to maintain the balance of military power in this world.

Perhaps there were some who slipped through the net, but their number was likely extremely small. After such a brutal decisive battle, few people would be in the mood to steal. Furthermore, all armies returning home had to pass through the "Space Gate," and everyone was inspected before passing through.

As long as Hajime can recreate the "Guidance Compass", he can find the fish that have escaped and destroy them. Hiding them is absolutely impossible - this point has been notified to all parties.

Of course, if Shi was to destroy the artifacts, anyone who had hidden them would also be destroyed. Therefore, unless someone was desperate, there shouldn't be any artifacts left uncollected.

Incidentally, Gaharud had begged Hajime to at least let him keep his portion, and he kept pestering him. Hajime found him too annoying, so he simply shattered the artifact before his eyes.

All artifacts were recovered and destroyed, but only the Hauriya people were treated specially.

It wasn't just because they were Hajime's own people. Since the empire was no longer constrained by the chain, Hajime judged that Hauriya should have enough restraint.

This, of course, made Gaharud very dissatisfied. However...

"Your Majesty... and this. Hajime asked me to give it to you."

"Huh? What's going on? Are you going to give me a bomb? You want to use this instead of a necklace to restrain me?"

"No."

From this sentence, it was easy to see what impression Gaharud had of Hajime. However, this time, his worries were in vain.

Gaharud's expression originally resembled that of a sulky child, but when he saw the ring that Shizuku gave him, he immediately became happy.

“Oh… Oh! Hey, could this be…”

"This contains a small airship, unarmed and designed to accommodate only one person... and this treasure chest can't hold anything else, only this. You mentioned wanting one when you were traveling with Fornil, so as a token of our friendship, I've decided to give it to you. So, you'd better not have any bad ideas—"

"Of course! How could I possibly ruin the kindness of my best friend!?"

His expression changed faster than the pages of a book. Jaharud's expression was sincere.

"Now I think he's a funny old man."

"Could it be that he's actually a funny guy who's meant to be teased?"

Ling and Ryuutarou were whispering to each other. If the imperial nobles heard them, they would probably faint from rage. However, Gaharud seemed completely unconcerned.

"As expected of the boss! Your use of rewards and punishments is incredibly precise!"

“That’s what makes him so scary.”

Even after hearing Lana and Kosuke's comments, Gaharud didn't care at all.

He was filled with joy at this unexpected gift.

"This is incredible... Is this real? My personal flying vehicle! This is terrible. Now is not the time to be an emperor... Adventure is calling me..."

Perhaps a new emperor will appear in this country for unexpected reasons.

Gaharud's happy expression was so innocent that Shizuku couldn't bear to watch any longer and turned away.

It wasn't because she found the rough-looking uncle's cheerful and happy look offensive.

(I, I can’t say it… Actually, Lily and Mr. Cam have the airship’s self-destruct remote control… I can’t say this…)

This is to prevent Gaharud from using this mini Fornir to invade other countries.

As long as Gaharud was on this airship, Liliana and Cam could blow him up at any time. Shizuku couldn't bring herself to say anything more when she thought of Liliana and Cam's bright smiles when they got the remote control.

Kaori, who also knew about this, locked eyes with Shizuku, and they nodded silently, resolving never to tell anyone about it. However, Lana, who also knew about this, had a sly grin on her face.

At that moment, Gaharud's confidants arrived. Perhaps because Gaharud hadn't returned from calling for help in such a long time, they came to check on the situation. Shizuku, realizing they'd been wasting time, urged Gaharud to stay on task.

"Ahem... Then, Your Majesty, let's go remove the necklaces from the other royal family members."

"Oh! Please!"

Jaharud nodded, his mood brightening. Perhaps because he was too proud, he blurted out unnecessary words.

"Oh, there's one thing I forgot to mention, Shizuku. I'm actually pretty pissed that the woman I loved was snatched away from me. But after all, Nagumo Hajime is my good friend, so there's nothing I can do about it. Congratulations."

"Eh? Congratulations on what...?"

"Of course I'm congratulating you on losing your virginity..."

The crude and low-level blessing was severed along with the Emperor's neck by the silent sword-drawing technique—

“Shizuku-chan! Nooo ...

Before that could happen, Kaori activated "Super Speed" to stop it immediately.

"Kaori, get out of the way! How else am I going to kill that guy!?"

"You can't kill! It's too tragic for a friend who witnessed the ceremony of peace to murder the emperor!"

"Don't worry, I won't really let him die! I'll just cut off his consciousness!"

"Shizuku-chan, His Majesty's neck is bleeding..."

Ling quietly leaned over and looked at Gaharud's neck. "It's just a skin wound, but it's definitely a cut. It's not what Shizuku said..."

To be on the safe side, Ryutaro came to Gaharud's side and carefully checked his condition.

"Uh~~ Your Majesty, are you okay?"

"I almost died, didn't I? Do you look okay?"

Until the end, Gaharud's expression remained serious.

"Great, great! Keep chopping!" Lana fanned the flames, and Kosuke quickly stopped her.

Hearing the commotion, Kam and a group of Hauriya people also rushed to the scene.

"Hmm? So, we're going to fight? Fine, I'll let you wear the necklace again!"