Arc of Turmoil
The Audience
"I treated her to a street-food crawl. We conquered every single stall."
"I see."
I'd asked Rokuko how on earth she'd managed to rack up more than 400 favors.
Apparently, on what you could call the Imperial Capital's food-stall street, where the stalls all cluster together, she'd treated Aidi, and treated her, and kept right on treating her.
She'd made a point of telling her, "It's my treat. One favor per item, though." That had paid off, and in the end, by the look of it, she'd piled up more favors than anyone could count.
…All told, 421 favors, supposedly.
"Stack them up that high and it backfires, doesn't it? It gets so huge she'll probably just stiff you on the whole thing."
"Oh my, Aidi would never do anything so dishonorable. She's from the Demonlands, after all. Besides, I'm keeping a proper log. All 421 of them."
Are people from the Demonlands really that scrupulous about honoring debts and favors?
If only they weren't battle maniacs, you could practically call them good people.
That one little "battle maniac" detail is a catastrophic dealbreaker, though……
Now then.
One thing led to another, and at last it was time for the audience with Haku-san.
"Raise your head."
"Yes."
It was taking place in a proper, official audience chamber.
Haku-san sat languidly on the throne, with Rokuko standing beside her. Down at the very foot of the steps, I stood off to one side of the carpet, while Aidi knelt front and center, with Sebas behind her.
Yep, I'm playing a noble on the sidelines, here as crowd-filler. Not that there's anyone else here. Crowd-filler, total headcount: one. …Beyond that, there's just Amelia-san, serving as scribe.
Even counting Amelia-san the scribe, the entire audience ceremony came to just six people.
"Well? The Divine Sword, was it?"
"Yes. You have it, don't you? What would it take to get you to hand it over?"
"My, what crude language. Is that any way to ask someone for something? Impression, minus one."
"…Are you honorably in possessment of it? Might I humbly be receiving its transferral, if you please, I wonder?"
"Your honorifics are all wrong. Impression, minus one more."
Wow. Looks like the minuses are going to keep piling up.
…Ah, Amelia-san is jotting down, "Impression, minus one. Twice, so minus two."
She's going out of her way to write it where we can see. A dig at Aidi, maybe.
"Now, now, Ane-sama. Aidi's a core from the Demonlands, so she isn't very good with language. Cut her some slack?"
"I suppose it can't be helped. From here on, I'll let a few things slide."
"Thank you very much, Haku-sama. Um, so, about the Divine—"
"And your thanks to Rokuko-chan? Impression, minus one."
"…Thank you, Rokuko. Would you add that to my tab?"
"You're welcome. Don't worry about it. That's just the kind of relationship you and I have, right? That makes 426 favors you owe me."
I was itching to ask just what kind of relationship that was, but a crowd-filler noble can't very well butt in, so I kept my mouth shut.
And when did the count creep up even higher……
"If my debt hits 666, that really would be bad. I need to do something about this soon…"
"Well? I'm going to the trouble of granting you an audience, so state your business and be quick about it."
At Haku-san's prompting, Aidi nodded once more and spoke.
"Yes. Regarding the Divine Sword, is there any way at all that I might receive it?"
"I'd rather not. The Divine Sword is one of the treasured pieces in my collection."
"Even so, couldn't we work it out somehow? Say I did something for you in return?"
"'Something'? You expect me to come up with it for you? Do you leave everything to others? Haven't you a head of your own to think with? Impression, minus one."
"…What about mercenary work, then?"
"Unfortunately, I'm not short on fighting strength. I've no need of help from the Demon King's army, and besides, the likeliest opponent at the moment is the Demon King's army itself, you see."
"Ngh…!"
And at that, Aidi looked at me.
Hey, don't look at me. Today I'm just background crowd-filler.
"Rokuko's Master, don't you have any good ideas?"
"Ask Sebas before you ask me."
"…! Good point. Sebas."
"Yes. If mercenary work is out, then nothing in particular comes to mind, Ojou-sama."
"…Rokuko's Master. Don't you have any good ideas?"
Sebas is handy in a fight, but he's Demonlands born and bred. This kind of discussion is probably asking too much of him.
"…Kehma-san, it doesn't look like we'll get anywhere without some sort of proposal, so I'll ask as well. Please."
"Ehh, umm. Well, all right. Understood."
"By the way, if she pays the reward I owe Kehma-san in full on my behalf, I'll lend her the sword for one month. Rokuko-chan, is there anything you'd like Aidi to do for you?"
"Nothing in particular at the moment."
"So there you have it. I'm counting on you for a proposal."
Now even Haku-san was asking me.
Hmmm.
"Rokuko's Master. Just how big is this reward of yours?"
"Huh? Hmm, no idea. The other day I brought the Holy Kingdom under my control, practically speaking, so maybe it's national-budget level. For now, rank-wise, I'm apparently going to be something called a Margrave."
"…You just said something I didn't quite follow, didn't you?? I'm in no position to grant Demonlands peerages, so let's hear some other ideas for now."
Figures. I can't come up with a fair reward for myself either.
"Then how about having her pass along information on the Demonlands? Regularly, from here on out."
"Mmh. So you want me to become an intelligence agent?"
"Well, it'll take at least that much to make it a fair trade, won't it? Unless there's some other job you'd rather have her do, Haku-san?"
I looked over at Haku-san. Her expression said she was a little torn.
"…I'd hardly call that work worthy of the Divine Sword. I can get all the information I like on those meatheads just by sending in intelligence agents the ordinary way."
"Then how about having her assassinate somebody, or something?"
"…Let's see. The Demonlands would be a bit much, so perhaps I'll have her assassinate some VIP in Dragonia or the Beast Kingdom. And even then, I won't be handing it over. I'll only lend it to her temporarily, as needed."
Ehh, I only said that offhand, and she's actually going to have her assassinate someone…
Anyway, now that it's settled, it's presumably none of our business anymore.
"Very well. That's fine by me, so tell me who the target is."
"Of course. My subordinates will pass along the details."
"Aidi, this got settled thanks to Kehma's advice, didn't it? You owe me for that too, you know."
"…About five favors' worth, I suppose?"
"That makes 431 favors in total."
Even if she paid back one a day, it'd take over a year.