Chapter 33: I want to let him experience them.

I want to let him experience them.

“Your Majesty, this is the shopping district. The people living in town come here to shop.”

Indeed, this would be the highlight of the town. Although it’s not to the extent of the capital, there’s a lot of pedestrian traffic, and yet the public order is excellent.

“……”

………Nevertheless, the king’s reaction is really weak.
Could I possibly have said something bad without realising it?

“……Umm, Your Majesty. Is something the matter?”
“Desist with the ‘Your Majesty’ business. I’m travelling incognito so it’s fine to just treat me normally.”
“B-but I can’t……”
“It’s Ethique.”
“Huh?”
“My name. From now on, just call me Ethique without honorifics. And the formality is unnecessary as well.”

……No, no, if a slave like me calls the king without honorifics then there would have been no meaning in me being the guide!!
But if I refuse, I would definitely be offending him.
Hmm. What’s to be done……

 

“――To tell you the truth, I wanted to be born not as royalty, but as an ordinary person with no authority whatsoever. It seems natural for a person with authority to be working ‘for the kingdom’ and ‘for the nation’.
Not only that, even one’s own actions are greatly restricted. As the king, I am a good example of that……. Well, this time I came here a little high-handedly though. I’ve heard about your past at the guild, but you should understand as former royalty, right?”

…..Indeed, there were some things I understood as a former member of royalty.
In the past, even leaving the castle was only permitted during special occasions. Furthermore, I was escorted by so many guards on those occasions.
I ended up as a slave. However, I gained a little sister like Lily. I was even able to befriend everyone in town. And above all, I met a master like Nest.
――These were surely things that couldn’t be obtained had I stayed royalty.
If I consider the king to be the same now, then at least for [today], and if today is no good then at least for [now], I want to let him experience them.

“I get it. It’s Ethique, right? But you can’t accuse me of lèse-majesté afterwards, okay?”
“Yeah, I know that much.”
“……Anyway, if you were born as an ordinary person with no authority whatsoever, what would you have wanted to be?”
“………[The Jet-Black Saviour], I guess. Well, I know that that’s impossible though. That’s why I’ll settle for an adventurer. Every man dreams of being an adventurer at least once.”
“Yeah, my master is also on a quest right now. I-if I remember correctly, it was for.. a goblin king, I think……”

Wai.. Ethique said [the Black Saviour] just now but that’s not referring to Nest, right……?

“Oh, a goblin king, huh. It seems like your master also longs to be like [the Black Saviour]-sama.”
“Th-that might be so.”

That’s definitely NESSTTTT!!! M-moreover, the ‘sama’ honorific was also mixed in among the confusion!?
When Nest gets back from his quest, I’ll have to repeatedly caution him about exposing his true identity in front of the king…….

――――――[Arnest POV]――――――――――――――――――――――――――

“Come to think of it, Nestcchi’s pretty close with that person from the guild, huh?”

Weiss said, after we left the town in a wagon.

“Indeed, they were chatting on quite good terms.”
“Yeah. Even chatting was rare at our guild, let alone being sent off.”

The Cyan siblings who were steering the wagon also turned to the rear and joined the conversation.

“Uhh.. Rather than being close, I guess it’s more like she helped me out with various things in the guild, and our relationship improved because of that?”

At any rate, Asha-san is a beauty in a guild full of beautiful receptionists.
Furthermore, her interaction with the adventurers is also very courteous and thus I see many guys appealing to her.
Even so, I have yet to hear anything about her dating someone. And because of that, there is much speculation floating around such as whether she already has a man in her heart, or whether she actually prefers girls.

“Oh, so it’s like that. I assumed you had that sort of relationship for sure, but that’s too bad.”
“Well it’s true she’s a beauty, and I’d also envy whoever she dated. I also received a lunchbox she made once, it was super delicious.”

That was really delicious……
It would be good if I had another opportunity, but it’s rather impudent for me to ask of my own accord.

“……No, any way you think of it, that sort of thing is that, right……”
“That?”
“””……”””

Why are you all silent? I want you guys to tell me what that means……

“W-which reminds me, I want to rely on Nest and Weiss for the night watch so you guys should get some rest now.”
“R-roger.”

In the end, I was ignored just like that, although Cyan also had a point.
Following his advice, Weiss and I lay down inside the shaking wagon.

 

…Yeah. Sleeping in the wagon is hard. I knew that though.

 

Although I call it a journey, we arrived near the location where the goblin king was sighted while Weiss and I were sleeping.
According to Gale, the monsters had been too scarce but I suppose it’s best that there aren’t any monsters.

 

With the sky turning dark, we started setting up camp and I searched for kindling for the fire together with Weiss.

“We’ve gotten this much so let’s head back.”
“Yeah.”

Just when I caught sight of one final stick and picked it up..

 

 

“Grrrrr………”

 

 

――――――I could faintly hear the growls of that.

 

 

Something that could never be produced by goblins or goblin kings, a deep and powerful voice.

The hazy figure that could be seen before my lowered gaze.

A huge foot with a claw the size of my torso.

When I timidly raised my eyes, before me was――――――――

 

――――――――A [Dragon].