Satou's here. There was a time when I shut myself in my room after I had a fight with my parents during my middle-school days, but it only lasted for three days. I think you need serious resolution and aptitude in order to do that.
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"I am very honored to be in the presence of Lord Duke Bishtal."
"Umu, I'm glad to see Sir Jeril is in good health."
With the [Crimson Nobleman] Jeril first on the list, only the people who are of nobility are summoned to this royal suite.
Despite the fact that other people besides us who have received the Mithril plate cannot be called commoners even though they're going to be bestowed the peerage in the royal capital.
Although besides Sir Jeril who is a baronet, we're all either only honorary nobles or children of nobles.
Duke Bishtal who has summoned us is a middle-aged man with stern face and a hook nose like General Eltal, his uncle.
I stole a glance at his face while kneeling down like everyone else.
The other party is not a royalty so there should be no need to kneel down, but perhaps it was because his lineage as a cousin of the king, or due to his influence, everyone had kneeled down once they entered the room and waited for him, so I followed them out of courtesy like a Japanese man would.
After he's done talking with Jeril, he begins to congratulate the children of nobles who have defeated the [Floormasters] in turns.
Then, he congratulates the honorary nobles somewhat more plainly than with the noble children before, and then it's my turn as the last one.
Judging from his glare, it feels like he's harboring ill will toward me.
"I enjoyed your acrobatic show earlier. Aren't you looking more like a street performer than an explorer today?"
Lady Karina would have gone into a rage if he heard him saying it an 'acrobatic'.
However, doing it with Mia's performance in the background while Pochi and Tama are dancing, touring around the country like that sounds very fun.
It's probably because I thought that--
"That sounds fun indeed. Allow us to hold a tour in Lord Duke's castle town if we cease the explorer business."
--that I involuntarily said so, making the Duke's face became sullen.
He might have perceived my honest thought as a snark since he most likely had said his words with sarcasm.
The cliche here should be him grandly sneering, "You low life upstart, blah, blah, blah", but...
"It seems Oyugock Dukedom intends to nominate you to be a Shiga Eight Swords, but they are not existences that should be taken lightly by someone without real ability to back him up."
The Duke glances to Sir Jeril and nods seriously.
I see, he's going to recommend Sir Jeril to become a Shiga Eight Swords to oppose Duke Oyugock huh.
If I were to become a Shiga Eight Swords by mistake, let alone tour, it would even hinder me from raising the girls' level.
And also, please stop treating me as a piece in your power struggle.
It'd be troubling if I say some careless remark and he deemed me as an enemy.
For the time being, in order to cover my remark earlier, I responded neutrally with, "Thank you very much for Lord Duke's warning."
If sparks seem like it's going to fly, it might be good to make a master swordsman called [Musashi] or maybe [Lancelot] appear and forcefully take the seat of Shiga Eight Swords.
If it goes well, I can just make the mysterious master swordsman go challenge a dragon and die tragically.
Then Jeril can take the seat peacefully afterward.
Still, even if he's saying it because I'm a piece of his political opponent, I think arbitrarily deciding a Mithril explorer to be [of without real ability] is a bit unreasonable....