Kochugunshikan Boukensha ni Naru

Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

“However, I’d still like to advise that you do not have any ideas about becoming a noble. In this country, there is no longer any suitable undeveloped land to be claimed as your personal fief. Even if you did become a noble, you’d only get granted land that isn’t fit for any form of development. You would only end up wasting away your life toiling needlessly and trying to develop a territory with next to no chance of success.”

“Since there isn’t any suitable undeveloped land, does that mean I have the leeway to choose an area myself to some extent?”

“That depends, but I believe there certainly were cases where that was permitted in the past.”

We’ll end up talking in circles all evening at this rate. Let’s cut to the chase then.

“If I donated some of the dragon materials we’re harvesting right now to the kingdom, how much of a chance would I have if I were to request a territory within the Great Demon Forest?”

“……Alan, are you serious about what you just said?”

“……Yes. Very serious.”

“I can’t believe I’m hearing this from someone like you. I’m sure you’re very familiar about the dangers of the Great Demon Forest. So what exactly are you thinking by suggesting something like that?”

“I simply just want to build a safe haven for me and my comrades. I believe we’ll be able to manage it in the end with our strength.”

“There have been a great number of noble houses that attempted to reclaim a part of the Great Demon Forest, but, needless to say, all of them have failed miserably. Do you still insist on this plan of yours even with that knowledge?”

“Yes. I’m very confident in our strength and skills. We can make it happen for sure.”

“Alan, I must admit that even though you are extremely gifted both as an adventurer and a mage, you certainly are not fit to be a nobleman. I believe you’d be able to at least build something at the level of an Orc settlement within the Great Demon Forest. But how would you defend and maintain it? People cannot live on monster meat alone you know. I believe a village like that would undoubtedly fail sooner or later. This is a work of folly you’re insisting on.”

Silas-san really is a very nice person. I believe there’s no falsehood in his serious and concerned expression. He really is thinking about our wellbeing.

“Even so, I still want to try it out. Even if we fail, we can just simply go back to being mere adventurers like how we are now anyway.”

“Fumu, that is certainly true as well. ……It really is great to be young. I no longer possess such hot-blooded enthusiasm at my age. Very well. Go ahead and try your best then. However, don’t say I didn’t warn you later, alright?”

“Of course. Thank you very much for worrying for people like us, Silas-san.”

“Hm. So, you were asking the chances of you being granted a territory within the sea of trees if you get granted the title of baron, correct? First, let me ask you this. Exactly how much materials are you willing to hand over to the country?”

“If there is a need, I can even donate all of the materials.”

“That’s preposterous! No matter how desperate you are for a noble title, that is just too much! And besides, think about the interests of our guild as well, will you!? ……Hmmm, let’s see. I think it would be enough if you just donated the dragon fangs.”

What!? They’d be okay with just that much? But I can’t allow for any variable that would cause this hard-to-come-by chance to fail no matter what the cost.

“Is it possible for me to negotiate personally with the crown beforehand?”

“Ah, yes, that is possible. I believe there should be an envoy coming over from the capital soon. Once you agree to the conferment of a noble title, you would be required to travel with the envoy back to the royal capital for the ceremony. I’m sure they will put forth some conditions in the middle of the journey back. You can proceed to negotiate with them then.”

“I see… That sounds quite convenient. Will the envoy be a noble?”

“But of course. They are the king’s personal envoy after all. But even so, I don’t believe the one they’d dispatch here would be from a particularly high-ranking house.”

Yosh. It looks like I can somehow bag the title without much problems then. I glanced at my party member’s expressions, and they all looked pretty relieved as well.

Oh, right. That reminds me…

“I’ve heard that the city lord of Gantz has always based himself in the royal capital. What’s up with that?”

“Oh, you’re talking about Lord Jurgen huh. This Gantz city’s tax revenues have always been of a class of its own compared to the other territories after all. He kept insisting his personal management wasn’t really needed, and so, he only comes back to Gantz city once every year. It’s to the point that Dennis-sama, His Lordship’s personal butler, is the one who ends up actually managing the city’s affairs all year round. To be honest, even I don’t…… No, it’s nothing. Let’s just leave it at that.”

It looks like Silas-san is actively trying to avoid saying words that might be regarded as slander against nobles huh. Well, if he’s that type of no-good noble, I think there’s no need to care about him too much then.

“Alan. I remember that the last time you came here, you said that your aim was to become the number one adventurers here in Gantz. Right now, no matter where you go around in this city, if you ask the people about the number one adventurers here, they’d certainly all talk about you guys. You all really are quite something, you know that?”

“No, it wasn’t just us. It’s also thanks to your wholehearted support, Silas-san.”

“I see. I truly hope you don’t forget those words even once you officially become a noble then.”

I see. He was actually laying all the groundwork earlier in order to say these words huh. It looks like he just led me by the nose there. He’s really the Commerce Guild’s chief huh. How sly.

Oh well. It’s true that he’s helped us out a lot anyway. I guess I’ll just let that slide then.

We enjoyed the specially brewed alcohol for the rest of the dinner and got fired up a lot. Of course, the drinks Cleria and the rest had were different from what I and Silas-san were drinking. They were all watered down by fruit juice. This fruit juice cocktail recipe was also developed by Iris and was received with glowing reviews by the girls.

“It’s really been quite some time since we’ve enjoyed such a wonderful dinner and alcohol. Thank you very much.”

“Don’t mention it. You are all honored customers of the guild after all. Alan, let’s have another drink if the opportunity presents itself once again.”

“Understood. If the opportunity presents itself.”

Of course, I didn’t forget to claim the 1,500,000 Guinea payment from Karina-san before we left.

We went back via carriage as well, and finally left Silas-san’s mansion.

When we got back to our Home, we found everyone waiting for us at the dining hall. It looks like they were plenty curious about what went down during the dinner banquet. They quickly surrounded us and pressed us for details.

“We still can’t say it for sure, but the guild chief did say there was a high chance of me being conferred the title of baron.”

“”Oooh!””

“And in order to secure it, we might just have to offer a part of the dragon materials to the crown, but in order for us to achieve our goals, something like that is a small price to pay. I’ve been told that the kingdom will dispatch a royal envoy to this city soon, so we’ll just have to wait until the envoy arrives.”

“We can say that these recent events have allowed us to make a big step forward toward our ultimate goal.”

Everyone nodded in agreement and smiled in delight.

“That’s right. That’s exactly right. Hey, everyone! I’m actually craving a drink to celebrate right now. I’ll have the kitchen pop open a wine barrel tonight. Do you guys want to accompany me?”

“”Understood!””

The wine barrel we opened up tonight was bigger than what we had the previous evening, so we had the leftovers for tonight’s dinner as snacks and partied late into the night.