Chapter 48: Yeah, sorry. That’s impossible.

Yeah, sorry. That’s impossible.

The king was still standing with his hand extended out to me.
I didn’t know what’s what, but I can’t leave the situation as it is, so I timidly grab that extended hand in return.

“!!”

The moment I grasped it, the king’s body shook with a start, and he grasped my hand tightly for several seconds before slowly releasing it.
The king finally straightens his back as well, and his eyes overflow with joy like a little kid as he looks at his own hand.

“Err… Why did you……?”

I asked the king, who showed no signs of returning from that situation no matter how much time passed.
In reaction to those words, the king slowly looks back at me.

“Th-that earring……”

……Ah, come to think of it, I received this earring from a servant girl at the castle when I healed her, but perhaps the king knew of that girl.
In that case, the fact that I possess the earring that the [Jet-black Saviour] who infiltrated in the middle of the night should have had meant that I was the [Jet-black Saviour].

“……My daughter.”
“Eh――?”

Wh-what did he say just now? The king’s daughter. In other words, the Saint……?

“Y-you’re the [Jet-Black Saviour], right……?

……Should I answer honestly here, or should I play dumb?
To be honest, if it’s just the servant girl’s earring then it might be fine to say I bought it from a shop near there, but if it was possessed by the Saint then there’s no way I could have bought it from a shop near there.

“No, I understand it!! That saving people without exposing your identity is a man’s romance!! I’m sorry for just now!! But I won’t reveal your identity to anyone, so please don’t worry!!”

But while I was troubled about whether or not to say it, the king enthusiastically started talking for some reason.

“C-calm down for the moment!”

Despite it being the middle of the night, he was talking in such a loud voice so I obviously had him stop.

“Ah!! My apologies, for me of all people to have lost my composure like that……”

Well, if someone you admired to even go so far as to attach -sama to their name appeared before you, everyone would probably become like this no matter who they were but……

“Ah, well, I guess so. It’s true that I’ve been called the [Jet-black Saviour] but I’m not really such an amazing person. Please don’t use formal language either.”
“Wha!? For an insect like me to speak to the [Jet-Black Saviour]-sama informally is……”

No, aren’t you the king!?

“Well, er.. Look, just like your majesty said before, I don’t want to be so conspicuous. And yet, if the king starts using honorifics for me just from using mere recovery magic, wouldn’t I stand out no matter how much I dislike it? Therefore, consider it for my sake, okay?”
“B-but……”

However, it might be that the king greatly deifies the [Jet-Black Saviour] deep inside, but he doesn’t seem to acknowledge it no matter how much time passes.
But I can’t leave it like this is either……

“W-well then, if you stop speaking formally, then I’ll listen to any one thing you ask.”
“!!”

The king reveals an even larger reaction than during the handshake before.

“I-is that for real!?”
“Yeah, it’s real. Well, it’s only if you stop with the formalities though.”
“I-I will stop!! I will stop speaking formally!!”
“You’ll stop……?”

The king finally assents, but I corner him further.

“I’m stopping!! I won’t use formal language!!

After much difficulty, I managed to succeed in making him completely stop speaking formally to me.

“So, what do you want from me?”

And thus, I was about to listen to one of the king’s requests like I promised, but the king’s face was covered in a large smile.
Ah…… something bad is coming.

“P-please make me your disciple!!”
“Yeah, sorry. That’s impossible.”

Just now, the king’s face steeped with despair.

“W-whyy!?”

Well no matter what, you are the king, right? Where would you find someone who would take in a king as a disciple……

“A-at least think about it a little!! After all, I finally stopped the formalities, you know!?”
“Mnn, that’s true……”
“U-until tomorrow morning at least!! Think about it until tomorrow morning!! Because I’ll ask you again then!!”

Due to the king’s strong wishes, I was made to think about the matter until tomorrow.
However, if I refuse and the king reveals the [Jet-Black Saviour]’s identity then it would be terrible. Ah, it’s too troublesome to think about it now so I’ll just think about it just before bed……
Reaching a pause in the conversation, we head towards my house.
It’s annoying to go back to the guild now so we decided on my house, which was relatively close.

“Ah, come to think of it……”
“Hm, what is it?”
“Would it be better to remove this earring?”

Until now, I didn’t think anything special of it and just put it on, but it did cause my identity to be revealed……

“Hmmm, there are only a few people in the kingdom who know about this earring.”

If it’s just living a normal life, I would hardly be worried, but I’m not guaranteed to be the only exception.

“If you’re worried, then I suppose taking it off just in case is also an option.”
“Understood. Then I guess I’ll remove it.”

I also agreed with the king’s advice so I remove the earring attached to my ear, and put it in my pocket.

 

“I’m home, Tré.”

When we return to my house, had come to the entrance to greet us.

“Welcome home, Master……And that person is…?”

It seems she never met him when she was still a noble, and meeting the king for the first time and not knowing who he was, she tilts her head in puzzlement.

“Ah, he’s an acquaintance from town.”

It might be found out later anyway, but thinking it didn’t really have to be so late at night, I told a lie.
Since I didn’t hear anything from the person himself, the king probably didn’t mind.

“I see, is Master and his companion hungry……?

Tré asks me, but luckily I had eaten before coming so I wasn’t hungry.
The king, however…

“Actually, I haven’t eaten anything so I’ll be grateful if I could have something to eat.”

……As I expected. After all, he never appeared at the banquet.
But, my condolences. Since he’ll be eating Tré’s cooking.
……Tré went to the cooking classes, and it’s true that she continued to improve.
That was, the unappetisingness of her cooking did――

“Th-then I’ll be returning to my room first, so……”
“Ah, Master!!”

When I try to hurry to my room, Tré called out to me.
……Wh-what is it?

“Actually, a guest came just now, but the guest was tired so I put them in the largest room, Master’s room, because I thought Master wouldn’t return home. Was that okay…..?”
“Ah, it’s fine. Thanks for dealing with them.”

As a reward, I pat her head.
Recently, this is what I’ve been doing to reward Lily and Tré. Somehow she seemed happy with that, and closed her eyes in pleasure.
……Nevertheless, it was good. It was really good that she didn’t say to eat together or something.
I think I might have heard a shout from behind me, but I opened the door to my own room to grab new clothes in order to change my dirty clothes for the time being.

“――Eh?”
“Eh.”

I did indeed hear from Tré that there was a guest, but I forgot to ask whether they were male or female.
Inside was, perhaps she was in the middle of changing clothes or something, but there was a naked girl.
Moreover, that girl was someone I recognised.

“Uhh, you……”

The one there was the girl I healed in the one room I found when running about the castle.
In other words, it was the [Saint]-sama――