Volume 4 Chapter 11.4
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Translator: Reflet
Editor: Weasalopes
Aearis had no qualms with apologizing if it meant having a frank exchange of conversation. The king likewise responded in an easygoing manner. Usually this would be an international affair, but other than being related deeply to the royal family, the temple had always been independent from the royal house. The only exception was Alfemina Temple, which was inside the Farlane palace, but it was still accessible to the public and the royal family could not interfere with that.
「But that is but a trivial issue. What I am more interested in is the information that His Highness Layotte brought back with him.」
「Unfortunately for his informant, who risked their life to obtain it, the information wasn’t especially important. As expected, the road to the temple is completely isolated. The area near the entrance is a bottomless swamp and the trees around it have been turned monstrous. “Hands” also come out of nowhere and attempt to snag any intruders. And lastly, if you do get captured, you’re going to lose a ton of your life force. We only know these things listed.」
「That is still better than what our investigation team came up with, as they have yet to even return.」
Aearis nodded when she heard the king’s grave words. He then turned to the members of Azuma Workshop, who had been listening intently.
「So, Azuma Workshop…How do you intend to use this information？」
「Honestly, we were gonna think about it after hearin’ Aearis-sama’s plan, so we ain’t got no ideas right now.」
「Very well. Then, Priestess Princess, what was your plan?」
「After receiving permission from Your Majesty, we were going to start by purifying the entrance and having Azuma Workshop come right after that. Alfemina-sama has entrusted us with various tools, which should provide a better result in comparison to plunging in recklessly. Unfortunately, I am but a burden when it comes to battle, so I would be staying posted with Artiem, Aranwen Temple’s priestess to keep watch over Stiren Temple.」
Hearing Hiroshi and Aearis’s “plan”, the king nodded. As the only current information they had involved the traps near the entrance, there wasn’t much they could plan out. Considering how Alfemina herself had given them tools (of which the members of Azuma Workshop were probably the only ones capable of using), this was much better than charging in recklessly.
「All right. Then you mean to say that using those tools, Azuma Workshop can get into the main temple, yes？」
「This is not completely guaranteed, but no doubt better than entrusting anyone else with the plan. I am convinced of this.」
Hiroshi’s team had difficult expressions on their faces as they heard this full display of trust. They hadn’t done enough as adventurers to deserve such recognition, or so they would claim.
「Then I make my decision. Azuma Workshop, I entrust you withfreeing Elza Temple.」
「As ya wish. But don’tcha think it’s a bit soon to be trustin’ us based solely off that？」
「I know full well from speaking to you that none of ye are the kinds of folk to dirty your hands with selfish ambition or conspiracy. No one with a treacherous heart admits to their lack of planning. And besides…」
「Besides？」
「Ye cashed in on a lot of money by giving a weapon to an unnamed adventurer and betting on their victory. If ye wanted to increase yer prestige, ye would not resort to such a roundabout, uncertain method. If ye truly could make a weapon strong enough to help an unnamed adventurer win, ye could simply give it to some noble somewhere, and ye have the eyes for which people could win, so ye would not choose just any noble out there.」
Hiroshi wasn’t sure how to respond to this over-the-top praise. Sure, he thought it would be interesting to have Jon win, but he wasn’t exactly assured on his victory. Doubtless the king would not accept this explanation anyway.
「So how confident are ye about succeeding in this plan？」
「Since we do have Alfemina-sama assistin’ us in this, the possibility sure ain’t zero, but as we don’t know the full situation, we also can’t guarantee nothin’.」
「Oh？」
「When it comes to makin’ smeltin’ forges, which we have experience and repeated success with, as long as the location is secure ‘n there ain’t no accidents, I can guarantee success. But in this case the conditions are unclear ‘n quite a bit different from what our line of business is accustomed to, so I can’t just act all alpha ‘n tell ya to leave it to us.」
Hiroshi wasn’t trying to hide anything, make anything up, or portray himself as better than he was, to which the king of Forre smiled, truly enjoying this.
「I like this attitude of yours. Others may have quivered at the thought of abandoning their responsibility, but ye have the guts to admit ye do not know if this shall succeed, and so be it.」
「The real silly thing to do is talk big ‘n fail. Besides, not bein’ able to tell ‘em ya don’t know means the quality of the job’s unstable, ‘n that leads to more casualties ‘n trouble for the client. Runnin’ from challenges ‘n speakin’ honestly about the risks are completely different things.」
「As I thought, you are truly a craftsman, through and through.」
「And Your Highness also seems to have the temperament of a craftsman, by the looks of it.」
「Aye. I would not be called the king of the country of iron if I did not have that mindset.」
The king and Hiroshi were hitting it off in the strangest way. Haruna and the others opened their eyes wide at how cool Hiroshi looked for once.
「Ah, umm, Hiroshi-kun？」
「Wazzup？」
「Usually I feel like you’d chicken out at a task like this……」
「Oh. Yeah, that’s cuz I changed my state of mind after Crest Cave.」
Hiroshi concluded with a faraway look in response to Haruna’s insolent outburst.
「Was just thinkin’ to myself, dungeons ‘n the like ain’t nothin’ compared to how scary chocolate is.」
「Ah～……」
Haruna joined Hiroshi in making a faraway look, unsure if she was persuaded by him or not. It was problematic for Hiroshi to consider something like a tower golem to be worse than the chocolate incident, but she had even more of a problem with how she felt a bit persuaded.
「Well, I can’t very well be careless, so we gotta brace ourselves.」
「Definitely.」
「I apologize for forcing such trouble upon you, but if you succeed, then I will give you all the metal in the national treasury that we have not been able to process and permit the connection of your workshop, Wulls workshop, and the Crest Cave base in addition to throwing a large banquet to celebrate the freedom of Elza Temple. Do the best that ye can.」
「Well, I can assure ya I’ll do ma best.」
Hiroshi gave a rather lackluster reply to the king’s generous reward. He didn’t have an interest in compensation from the beginning, plus he felt parties to be dangerous, but saving Elza Temple was an important task to Hiroshi’s group.
「Your Highness, I don’t think that a banquet is necessary……」
「What do ye mean? It is not every day that we get to have a country-wide celebration, no? Do ye think I would turn away a pretext to throw a party when we barely have anything besides New Years？」
Tatsuya’s words (concerned for Hiroshi) were cut down by His Highness’s vigorous statement.
「Oh crap. This king is basically a dwarf in disguise……」
「Tatsuya, you’d best quit while you’re at it.」
「I’ll expect good things from you……」
Tatsuya’s shoulders drooped at the inevitable banquet. Aearis was grimacing at his demeanor while Mio spoke to her.
「Aearis-sama, you’re not an outsider in this.」
「Huh？」
「Judging by your body type, they’ll force feed you a lot. In my case it would be the perfect amount, but your stomach is normal size……」
「W-What……？」
Aearis cocked her head cutely, unsure what Mio meant. Haruna felt rather uneasy at that, whispering to Douga.
「Doul, Elle-chan and Artiem-san will probably be in a lot of trouble, so take care of them.」
「Of course I was going to.」
Artiem watched them discuss this with a strange face, not familiar with Forre banquets, but she held her tongue.
「We can count our chickens after they done hatched, mate. First we see what Aearis-sama brought with her ‘n then we think about what preparations we need.」
The carefree air in the room suddenly grew tense. This next mission would be studied with the most scrutiny in Forre’s history.
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