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The Otherworld Conquest Method of a Reincarnated Porter Chapter 26 Part 3

I briefly tell her about my daily practice, my labyrinth explorations, as well as the incident in Sakuto village. She seems to be awfully impressed by the fact that I resolved myself to fight in order to protect the princess and my little sister.

「A rank 46 strong-armed baboon, huh. Even when they suffer injuries, baboon-type monsters continue to rampage as opposed to backing down, so I guess we can’t really blame the knights. Though, I’d like to try fighting it myself.」

Is she a battle junkie by any chance? As for me, I don’t want to fight it ever again.

However, although the person in question may not be aware of it, I realized from talking to her up close that her appearance is a given, but be it the movements of her hands and feet, her facial expressions, or even the way she looks at you, all of it is overflowing with the aura of a good woman. She wears neither makeup nor perfume, but her womanly body odor and breath stir your sexual desires. If I were an ordinary man, I bet I would not have been able to resist it. She must have received a considerable amount of courting from the nobles, too. The sense of repulsion toward the nobles when she entered the room probably stemmed from there.

After a while, preparations are done, so we are taken to the audience hall. The hall is filled with twice as many people as before. They are giving out medals too readily, no? Once everyone takes their designated place, the awarding ceremony begins.

When the king makes his entrance, everyone bows their heads in unison.

「Ladies and gentlemen, you did well to come today. Raise your heads. I am delighted that our Kingdom of Estorias has such loyal subjects as you.」

I have prepared myself for a speech as long as that of the principal at the morning assembly, but the greeting is unexpectedly plain. He is going to award medals to nobles and knights that numbered about 200. Moreover, there will be a banquet in the evening, so he probably wants to get it over with as soon as possible.

One after another, they call everyone’s name, announce what kind of wonderful achievements they have made, and then award them with medals. Some of them are moved to tears. When will my name be called, I wonder? I had thought that since there are two hundred people, the attention would be divided into two hundredths, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Almost all the names have been called, but even now, neither I or Sylphia have been called. I have nothing but bad feelings about this. I want to go home.

「Finally, the Silver Dragon Medal. A member of the gold-class adventurer party Fleecy Clouds, Hero Sylphia the Celestial. And then, the eldest son of Count Amberlius Family, Kars Amberlius.」

The two of us step forward as we have our names called.

Stir, stir, stir.

An overly young pair, fifteen-year-old and twelve-year-old, is to be awarded the Silver Dragon Medal, which is given to those who have made distinguished military exploits. It is inevitable even if they are seized by surprise.

「Silence! Hero Sylphia the Celestial. She has defeated numerous high-ranking monsters, including the flying dragon that nested near the northern border. In recognition of these achievements, she shall hereby be awarded with the Silver Dragon Medal.」

The moderator reads out her achievements. Sylphia is a Hero who has used her innate skill, Heavenly Drive, to subjugate numerous monsters, but those are achievements she accomplished together with the other members of the gold-class adventurer party. For herself alone to be put on a pedestal thanks to it and be made the mascot of the kingdom, the person in question seems to find it distressing.

「O Hero Sylphia. You would do well to devote yourself for the sake of our Kingdom of Estorias from now on.」

「… I am very grateful and delightful.」

It is not like the person in question is acting as an adventurer for the sake of the Kingdom of Estorias, so there is the urge to refute it, but disrespect is intolerable. Sylphia accepts the medal while replying in a few words.

I, too, have a lot on my mind, but decided to just follow whatever they say. I want to go home as soon as possible, after all.

「Kars Amberlius. In order to protect Her Highness Princess Latiffany, he risked his own life and struck the heart of the strong-armed baboon which had killed 12 knights and sent 14 knights to the brink of death, subjugating it with a single blow. He had his arms and shoulders crushed and was hovering between life and death, but he returned alive. In honor of his loyalty to the royal family, he shall be awarded with the Silver Dragon Medal.」

Noisy, noisy. The hall is abuzz.

「What? He defeated a rank 46 monster with a single blow? Unbelievable.」

「Maybe he took the monster subjugated by the knights as his own achievement?」

「He is still only twelve years old? Doesn’t that mean he is Jobless?」

「No matter how much of a wonder child they hail him to be, going to such an extent is….」

No, like really, listening to the achievements objectively, I sure have done something amazing, huh. Just what kind of a monster am I? To be precise, although they omitted the fact that it was largely the achievements of the knights, the fact that there was not a single lie in it is making things complicated.

「Silence!」

As the hall falls silent, the king moves toward me. I am good, so let’s just get this over with quickly.

「All that has just been said is the truth. It is clear even if you compare it with the testimony of my daughter Latiffany as well as the knights of the Imperial Guard. Furthermore, we have had an appraiser examine the carcass of the monster, so there is no room for doubt. Kars Amberlius. You did well to save Latiffany’s life. I thank you. Take Latiffany here.」

A fully dressed up Latiffany appears. As expected, she is not called the royal angel for nothing. She is so cute. There are heart marks in her eyes, and I can hear *sparkle sparkle* and *squee squee* sounds. Yup, it must be my imagination. But somehow, I have a bad feeling about this.

「Kars-sama, thank you very much for saving my life. Me being able to stand right here right now like this is all thanks to you.」

「Your Highness Princess Latiffany, I merely did what I had to do. I am much obliged to Your Highness’ words.」

「I have made up my mind, Your Majesty. I, Latiffany Magzard, will marry Sir Kars Amberlius.」

Noisy, noisy, noisy, noisy.

「N, no way. The royal angel Latiffany is getting married, you say?」

「Don’t joke with me, Lati-tan’s marriage partner will be my grandson, or rather, I will….」

「For Latiffany-sama’s honor to fall into that man’s hands, unforgivable.」

Is there nothing but lolicon among the nobles of this kingdom? No, she is certainly cute, but you see… She is still only nine years old, I repeat, nine years old.

「Hmm, for Latiffany to offer a marriage proposal herself… Now then, let us hear your reply, shall we?」

No, no, no, this whole development is proceeding so much according to the script, is it not? The royal family wants to deepen their relationship with the Amberlius family, and given that we are in the presence of so many nobles, there is no way I would have the audacity to refuse.

「I am very grateful and delightful. Although I would have to humbly ask for the formal engagement to not take place until after I am granted with my job at my coming-of-age ceremony, I humbly accept.」

This should do. I bet the king will lose interest in me when I am granted with the job of Porter at my coming-of-age ceremony. All they need to do then is to marry Lati off to my half-little brother, which would not be a bad thing for either the royal family or the Amberlius family. I wonder what Lati’s heart will be like at that time. It pains me as I feel like I can picture her sad figure.

At the banquet afterwards, I sat near Lati and had a chat with her. As I ended up questioning myself whether it was really right for me to live freely as a Porter even at the cost of bringing misfortune upon Lati and Lily, I couldn’t bring myself to enjoy it.