"Whaaaaat?" (All CV except Mile)
When Mile returned from the royal palace, Reina and the other two were shocked by her report.
"Th, th-th-that's..." (Reina)
"M-M-M-M-Mile-chan..." (Pauline)
"So you're retiring from being a hunter and going to live at the temple, right?" (Mavis)
"What the hell is that!!!" (All CV except Mile)
Everyone shouted at the top of their lungs. Of course, Mile had anticipated this and set up a soundproof barrier beforehand, so there was no need to worry.
"M-M-Ma-Mile, ahhhh, you're going to be a goddess!" (Reina)
"The God of the New World?" (Pauline)
"Maybe the guru?" (Mavis)
She expected everyone to be surprised, but...
"Without you, Crimson Vow would fall apart!" (Reina)
"Our profits will plummet!!" (Pauline)
"Ah, if Mile gets away now, we'll have to worry about transporting our luggage and prey, and our meals..." (Mavis)
Reina and Pauline seemed a little too surprised, while Mavis seemed fairly calm.
"……eh?" (Mile)
Mile was taken aback by what Reina, Pauline, and Mavis said.
"No, I don’t want to leave you all either, but, you know, aren’t the reasons you all became Hunters all over again already accomplished now? Reina-san and Mavis-san were aiming to become A-rank, and Pauline-san was saving money to start her own trading company…" (Mile)
"Eh?" (Other 3)
Reina and the other two were dumbfounded when Mile pointed it out.
"Well, if you put it that way... It's true, rather than reaching my goal of becoming an A-rank hunter, I have risen to an even higher rank, S-rank, and even beyond that, my goal of being appointed as a knight has already been met, as I have been appointed as Mile's guardian knight, a holy knight. Even though I had been appointed a Holy Knight by Angel-sama, which was far more honorable than being appointed by a king who was just an old man I had never met, there couldn't be a higher rank for a knight... Again, have I already achieved all your goals and desires as an aspiring knight...?" (Mavis)
"Now that I think about it, I achieved my goal of becoming A-rank... My name has become more well-known than I had originally expected, so if I write an autobiography, I'm sure it will be published..." (Reina)
Reina's greatest wish was to become famous and publish an autobiography so that the achievements of Crimson Lightning could be engraved in history and preserved for future generations. Now that she had achieved S-rank, all that remains was to write it and request it to a publisher.
"Oh, if you want to publish a book, I can introduce you to a good publishing company. If it's likely to sell, you won't need your own funds, but if you're publishing a book that's unlikely to sell, you'll have to cover the necessary expenses out of your own pocket. Well, I was shown a little bit of the Reina-san manuscript before, and with how well-known it is now, I'm sure a publisher would jump at it!" (Mile)
While Mavis, Reina, and Mile were getting excited and saying such things, Pauline had a gloomy expression on his face.
"Everyone is just making their own dreams come true... What about me?! What will happen to my dreams?!" (Pauline)
Then, suddenly, Pauline started screaming.
"Well, since you’re going to be a Count, why don’t you start a business on your own territory? If it's directly managed by the lord, you can give various preferential treatment and it will be easier to do business with other territories and countries, with the strong name value and credibility... Aren't the funds from the territory's budget and the reward money enough? If it's a trading company run directly by the lord to promote the territory, there's no problem using the territory's budget, right? Besides, if we ask Mile, won't the temple give us permission to use the name 'Saint Shop'? If you use that name, you'll have no enemies." (Mavis)
"Ah……" (Pauline)
This incident alone was enough, but in the empire where the story of the previous "Askham territory's miraculous retreat operation" had spread throughout the country, its fame was unrivaled. Moreover, they had saved the lives of many of their own country's soldiers, and the popularity was at maximum...
"Besides, aren't you all given territories? And don't you have to manage them?" (Mile)
"Ah……" (Other 3)
That's right. At her home country, Kingdom of Brandell, Mile...Adelle raised the rank of the Askham family, but left the territory unchanged. Monica and Aureana, who were commoners, were only given the honorary title of Baronets, a title reserved for commoners. But here in Kingdom of Tils, all members of Crimson Vow were given the same title of Count, regardless of their social status—With a proper territory attached...
A countdom was not something that was easily granted or vacant. So, this was probably a sign of Kingdom of Tils's strong determination to "never let these people go!" Well, the nobles who refused to send troops to Aubram Kingdom as ordered by the king, or who sent their troops to the surrounding territories which were left vulnerable, were demoted or abolished, which created vacancies in territories and titles, which likely made it possible for four new noble families, including count families, to emerge.The reason why Mile remained with the rank of Count instead of Marquis maybe was to ensure that "since they are the same party members, they should be treated the same." This would obviously be better received by the general public—Unlike the stubborn Kingdom of Brandell, it seemed like a good way to do it.
Incidentally, Pauline was given the territory where her family home was located, which was abolished in the aforementioned incident. It was formerly a viscounty, but it seemed to have been annexed with an adjacent barony to make it a slightly smaller countdom. After the former Viscounty was abolished, a magistrate dispatched by the King was reorganizing the corrupt territory, and since that had now come to an end, and coincidentally the neighboring Barony had also been stripped of its peerage due to this incident, it seemed to be a good opportunity.
Also, Mavis was given a territory close to Austin territory. This was probably done so that her father and her older brothers could help her in various ways. Reina was given a somewhat small countdom, lying halfway between the territories of Pauline and Mavis—Even if it was a little small, its location and fertile soil made it a good territory. It was far better than a large, barren piece of land. They probably thought that forcing such a strange land on this great hero who was a savior to the world would be an imminent threat to the country's reputation.
Each territory was somewhat distant from the others, and was fairly spread out around the country, with the royal capital in between. This was probably because they feared that if they grouped the four of them close together, there would be complaints from other regions, and they were worried that if they were to gather too close together in one place, something might happen. Furthermore, if they were to split up with the royal capital in between, the number of times they would come to the royal capital, which was the halfway point between them, would increase, and they would also have to pass through the royal capital when visiting each other's territories—Many thoughts were running through the minds of the upper echelons of the royal palace. As expected, Mile's territory was adjacent to the planned site for the temple construction...
Anyway, for that reason, it looked like Mile and her companions would no longer be able to continue their lives as hunters—Unless they do something like Mile abandoning their territory and fleeing to another country—However, unlike Mile's time, all four of them were now known throughout the continent. No matter where they went, Crimson Vow was not treated as an ordinary party of hunters, but as "Angel-sama's group" and "saviors", and it seemed unlikely that they would be allowed to take on very ordinary or dangerous requests, nor would they be left alone without being harassed relentlessly. This meant that the Crimson Vow party would no longer be able to function, and would therefore be disbanded.
"…………" (All CV)
And when they realized this, the four of them just stood there in shock...
Author's Note
On December 7th, the 16th volume of the "Noukin" book will be published! (^^)/
And on the 9th, the 9th volumes of the comics "Rōkin" and "Potion" will be published!
We would appreciate your cooperation. (^^)/
In addition, the comic book adaptation of "Noukin" is being rebooted!!
The series has already begun serialization on the Gangan ONLINE app.
The browser version will be available from the 15th!
Enjoy the new "Noukin" with story composition by Sakurai Tatsuya-sensei and illustrations by iimAn-sensei! (^^)/
And then, big news!!
A conversation between me and the great Kanzaka Hajime, known for works such as "Slayers" and "Lost Universe", has been published on the SQEX Novel blog!
It's scheduled to be released at midnight on December 7th, so you should be able to read it already...
The talk was scheduled to last just under an hour, but things got so lively that it went on for two hours.
However, the story got too crazy and there were a lot of balks and bean balls. So it was cut down considerably...
Visit the SQEX website for sample readings and original short stories.
And on the special one-year anniversary website, you can see a conversation with Kanzaka Hajime-sensei! (^^)/
https://magazine.jp.square-enix.com/sqexnovel/1st_anniversary/
We hope you will continue to support SQEX Novel, which will soon celebrate its first anniversary, and the "12-13 Year Old Small Breasted Girl Trilogy." (^^)/