Chapter 52
No sooner had I safely returned to the royal capital, handed Rufa the letter from Rururia, and begun to breathe a sigh of relief than I was summoned by the king.
More precisely, Nerphia had summoned me on the king's orders, and I was waiting alone in a room at the heart of the royal palace.
"Sorry to keep you waiting. The king had another matter come up, so he ordered me to explain things to you instead..." Nerphia returned and sat down across from me, looking apologetic.
"Well, that's totally fine, but what happened? Is this about Wickhart?" That was the first thing that came to mind.
I had no idea what the king thought about Wickhart becoming my subordinate.
Wickhart was such a skilled archer that he was counted among the continent's Ten Bows. Under normal circumstances, he was not someone who would serve under me. He was well-liked, handsome, and kindhearted, too. He was a formidable man.
It would be a waste to let someone with such talent rot away under an unimpressive civil official. It would not have been strange at all for the king to think so.
Yet Nerphia looked at me in bewilderment when she heard my words. Her expression left me at a loss as well, and for a while, we sat there looking foolish.
We looked at each other and exchanged wry smiles before Nerphia straightened her posture.
"The king's message concerns bottling. First, let me state this clearly. Roa-sama, regarding the bottling technology, the nation would like to take possession of it. In other words, we would like to remove it from your hands and operate it on a national scale."
"Ah, sure. Go ahead."
Honestly, it was an anticlimax. Bottling was not a big deal to me. To be perfectly frank, losing Wickhart would be far more serious. If I no longer had to be involved with bottling, that would actually be a relief.
"What!?" Nerphia let out a strange sound when she heard my answer.
"What!? Did I say something wrong?" Nerphia's reaction surprised me, and I was startled in turn. Somehow, we weren't quite on the same wavelength.
Nerphia cleared her throat lightly and began explaining things as if she were admonishing a child.
"I know that Roa-sama is not particularly attached to the bottling technology. However, in this case, taking possession of it means that the king would be taking credit for your achievement as well, you understand?"
"Yeah."
"Your name will not remain in history, and you will not be able to claim the rights to it in the future. That is what we are discussing."
"No, I don't really mind." I hadn't invented it in the first place. They could do as they pleased, and if the nation operated it, I would probably be able to enjoy more delicious bottled food made more efficiently. So what was the problem?
Yet Nerphia pursed her lips and looked dissatisfied when she heard my response.
"Why not? We are saying that the nation will take your achievement away from you. Wouldn't it be natural for you to complain or demand compensation?"
"I think I told you before, but I don't care about bottling. I don't need any compensation, either... Hmm. If you could prioritize supplying it to the Tenth Knight Order, that would be enough for me... Ah! That's it!"
"Did you think of something!? Tell me anything. For example, would you like us to create an Eleventh Knight Order and make you its commander?"
"What!? What's that!? Can you do that?"
"Considering the profits bottling would bring to the nation, it might not be impossible."
It was an attractive proposal, but I had to turn it down. I did not have much time. If the country were destroyed while I was busy creating a knight order from scratch, it would be no laughing matter.
"That would certainly be something, but... no, that's not what I meant. Could we move forward with the highway project instead? Actually, Rururia—the princess of Fezaris—told me about a method of paving highways using something called tar. She also gave me a letter about arranging trade in tar with Fezaris."
"What? Um... Roa-sama, isn't that less a reward than a new achievement...?"
"Huh?"
Somehow, our conversation wasn't lining up at all today.
Nerphia looked down and let out one long, deep sigh before turning back to me.
"For now, let's put the matter of your reward on hold and discuss the highway first. It has not been made public yet, but while you were away from the royal capital, the highway project was approved. So this tar is a godsend for the nation. May I take that letter from you later? I will give it to the king."
"What, it's already been decided? That was faster than I expected. Are we starting by connecting the royal capital and Gederland?"
"Yes. It was already on the agenda at Drew-san's suggestion. The king determined that the costs would be manageable in anticipation of increased bottling production. Which brings us back to the matter at hand: the nation wants to take over the rights to bottling."
"Ah, I see. Now I finally understand. Are you planning to build a bottling workshop or something with funds from the national budget?"
"Exactly. The site has already been secured, and construction of the building is being rushed. For now, the highway is planned to run from the royal capital to the bottling workshop."
The plans for building the factory were moving incredibly fast. They must have begun working behind the scenes at a very early stage, soon after word about the bottling reached them. Well played, Your Majesty.
"Wait, but if you're going to build a highway, where will you get the manpower?"
I also wondered how they were managing the workshop construction that was supposedly already underway.
"We'll use the Sixth Knight Order," Nerphia said.
"The Sixth Knight Order!?"
"Yes. They still have not chosen a new commander, and rather than let them sit around idle in the royal capital, we thought we would use them to build the highway. It would also sound better to people outside the kingdom."
"True."
It would be better to say that the Sixth Knight Order was being kept in the royal capital to build the highway. That way, people would not make a spectacle of the fact that they were simply sitting around there.
"...So, in truth, the decision to take the bottling rights away from Roa-sama had already been made, regardless of your opinion. The king told me to persuade Roa-sama and ask about your reward, but..." Nerphia gave me a troubled smile.
"Oh, right. If that's the situation, wasn't there an order for me to direct the workshop or something?" That would be a problem. I had no time to devote to bottling. If that was what they had in mind, I would have liked them to make declining command of the workshop my reward.
"It would be problematic for the king to forcibly take away Rays-sama's favorite, after all."
"I see. Then that's a relief. I don't intend to spend any more time on bottling, either, so I don't need a reward, but..."
"That would be unbecoming of the king's dignity, no matter how you look at it. It would simply seem as though the king had stolen a subordinate's achievement."
Even if she said that, my goal was to avert the kingdom's destruction, now less than a year and a half away. I wanted any cards I could use for that purpose, but... Money? Hmm. A large sum would probably attract all sorts of shady characters. Was there something else...?
"Ah!"
"What is it? Did you think of something?"
"Would something like this be considered presumptuous?"
"Just tell me for now."
"The right to offer advice directly to the king. Ah, of course, he could reject it if he wanted to, but could I receive the right, just once, to have him hear my advice as a priority?"
I did not know what I would use it for, but having a way to bring a matter directly before the king, so that First Knight Commander Lucifer=Belas could not bury it, might prove valuable. It was only a spur-of-the-moment idea, though.
"The right to offer advice directly to the king...? I'm sorry. I did not expect such a request, so I will take it back and discuss it with the king. However, unless the king has no right to refuse, wouldn't it be meaningless if he did have the right to refuse?"
"Not necessarily. Like this matter concerning tar, I think it would be very convenient when I wanted to get something moving quickly."
"As an ordinary person like me, I cannot quite understand your way of thinking, Roa-sama, but I understand. I will certainly convey your request to the king."
Nerphia bowed her head, then continued, "However..."
"You really are something... Originally, I was helping you at the king's command, but I've begun to take a personal interest in you."
As she said that, she gave me a rather charming smile that she did not usually show. I found myself thinking that perhaps it was more than enough of a reward for me.