Hell Mode: Volume 5, page 3
Sophie and Filamehl had no intention of wasting any more time on this issue, so they obliged and followed the official out of the room.
And the God of Spirits is still asleep on her shoulder.
Allen looked at Sophie’s shoulder where a flying squirrel was currently perched. This was none other than Rohzen, the God of Spirits himself. Perhaps the official had been so occupied with disarming the group that he failed to notice the creature.
The official led the group down corridors lined with ostentatious decorations and ornately designed carpets that stretched on forever. Allen was marveling over how this palace was so unlike anywhere else he had been before when they approached gigantic double doors framed by knights standing on either side. The doors opened inward, revealing the audience hall beyond.
A red carpet ran the length of the hall, all the way to the throne at the far end. Ministers and nobles wearing resplendent clothing lined both sides of this pathway, who all began furiously muttering to each other the moment they laid eyes on Allen’s procession.
Sophie entered first, flanked by Field Marshal Lukdraal and Elder Filamehl. The rest of the No-life Gamers followed behind, and the ten or so elves carrying a variety of gifts and tribute brought up the rear.
I wonder if Viscount Granvelle is— Oh, I see him.
Allen scanned the crowd of nobles while walking and spotted Cecil’s father. He was positioned quite close to the door—that is, far away from the throne—either because he was considered a minor noble as a viscount or because he belonged to a different political faction from the king.
The aforementioned king, who had only been crowned just that year, sat reclined on his throne. Royal guards stood before and behind his throne, all looking wary and vigilant. They had had their eyes trained on Allen’s party from the moment they entered the hall. The one stationed closest to the throne seemed to be their commander. Next to the king sat the queen, and beside those two were others wearing extravagant clothing, likely also members of royalty. None of them matched the description of the princess whom Keel had almost been forced into protecting.
I see, so the newly ascended king wants to make a show of his authority.
A royal audience could either be held in a smaller conference room with only the king and a few important ministers present or in a flashy, public way like today’s setup. However, given how widespread news of the arrival of Rohzenheim delegates had been, perhaps this was not a choice—it had been simply impossible to choose the former.
Sophie walked half of the length of the room before coming to a stop. The king shot a look at the minister standing closest to him, who nodded then walked down the carpet to approach the delegation. Seeing this, the other nobles ceased talking all at once.
In a voice that carried through the silence, the minister declared, “Delegation from Rohzenheim, we thank you for making the long journey to our country. We welcome you. I am the prime minister of Ratash. It is my pleasure to meet you all.”
As everyone watched on, Elder Filamehl replied, “King of Ratash, Prime Minister, and all esteemed parties—your presence does us much honor. I am Filamehl of Rohzenheim. Today, before anything else, I wish to offer thanks to the Kingdom of Ratash myself, but a mere citizen of Rohzenheim, for sending your invaluable fighting strength to our aid.”
The elf made a show of slowly looking to his left and his right, then turned back to the king and bowed deeply. Regardless of King Invel’s intentions, had he not sent the No-life Gamers to Rohzenheim, Tiamo would have fallen and the queen could have even died. Worst-case scenario, the Demon Lord Army might have wiped out the entire elven race and the entire Northeast Continent would have been under their control right now instead.
“I-Indeed. Both of our countries are fellow signatories of the Five Continent Alliance. It is only natural to assist one another.” The prime minister said, somewhat flustered as he had not expected such a forthright and exaggerated display of gratitude.
“Now, Your Majesty and all other esteemed persons, there is someone I need to introduce you to,” Filamehl said.
Catching his look, Sophie gracefully stepped forward with her back straight and her head held high. She did not appear nervous in the slightest. Everyone in the room seemingly forgot to breathe for a beat.
Filamehl continued, “I present to you Her Highness Princess Sophialohne of Rohzenheim. She is with our delegation today as proxy for her mother, Her Majesty the Queen.”
The fact that Sophie was serving as proxy for the queen of Rohzenheim meant that she was here today with the full authority of the head of state of one of the major powers of the Five Continent Alliance.
Sophie smiled softly. She addressed everyone present while keeping her eyes fixed on the king’s face. “I, Sophialohne, on behalf of all of Rohzenheim, wholeheartedly thank the Kingdom of Ratash for your wise decision to send us aid. Our people will never forget the favor that you have shown us, and our country will forever walk beside yours. If Ratash is ever in need, you can count on Rohzenheim to answer your call.”
When Sophie was finished speaking, King Invel stood up from his throne. He returned her gaze and said, “As the one who bears the Kingdom of Ratash on his shoulders, I accept your words with grati— Hm?” The king cut himself off when he finally noticed the flying squirrel, now awake, on Sophie’s shoulder. The small creature was staring directly at him, so Invel stared right back.
A strange silence hung heavy in the audience hall.
“What is the matter, Your Majesty?” Sophie asked.
Invel replied to her question with his own. “Do all members of royalty from Rohzenheim keep small creatures on their shoulders?”
“Not all.” Sophie turned to the flying squirrel. “Lord Rohzen, the king of Ratash wishes to speak with you.”
“‘Rohzen,’ as in...” A look of astonishment came over King Invel’s face. “...The Rohzen?!”
The king’s cry prompted all the nobles to turn to stare at the flying squirrel. Every one of them, be they graduates of the Academy or of the Noble College, knew the name of the being that the elves worshiped. A buzz sprang up as they resumed whispering furiously among themselves.
“The God of Spirits is here?”
“That tiny animal is the God?!”
“Are you crazy?! Don’t point! What would you do if you were to anger him?!”
As the noise level in the room continued to swell, the flying squirrel on Sophie’s shoulder—who was indeed Rohzen, the God of Spirits—slowly floated up into the air. As he continued rising—first above Sophie’s head, then Lukdraal’s—the voices in the room died down. When all were silent again, the God of Spirits spoke.
“Children of man, I am Rohzen, the God of Spirits. I thank you for saving the elves whom I hold close and dear to my heart. Ha ha.”
The king of Ratash gulped as he stared up at the deity. Even after Rohzen returned to Sophie’s shoulder, the audience hall remained deathly quiet. Everyone was dumbfounded, including the king.
“As I hope you can tell from how we have brought Lord Rohzen with us,” Filamehl said, breaking the silence, “Rohzenheim truly is here to express our gratitude. And of course, we have not come empty-handed. Please accept these as our thanks.”
Filamehl’s request for an audience had mentioned that he and his delegation would be presenting gifts on this occasion. The Elder’s words served as the signal for elves standing behind Allen’s group to step forward with the wooden boxes they had been carrying. Officials who had been standing behind the nobles then hurried forward to receive these boxes from the elves.
“After the onslaught of millions of monsters and suffering many casualties, I’m afraid we do not have much to offer. And so, we present you with these—our nation’s treasured items, elven elixirs.”
Each box was packed with ten elven elixirs. Filamehl’s words sent the nobles abuzz once again.
“What’re elven elixirs?”
“You don’t know? They’re miraculous recovery items.”
“Did you just hear him say ‘millions of monsters’? Talk about padding a story.”
“I imagine we’ll know soon enough whether it’s true or not.”
As it turned out, Ratash had yet to finish its own verification of the official proclamations Giamut and Rohzenheim had made.
After confirming the contents of the boxes carried over by the official, the prime minister said, “On behalf of His Majesty, I thank you for the valuable gift.”
“We are glad you are pleased with it.” Filamehl’s facial expression shifted ever so slightly. “Now, let us get down to today’s main business, shall we? We, on behalf of Rohzenheim, sought this audience for three purposes: information, a proposal, and a request.”
The prime minister blinked a few times in surprise. “Three purposes... And what would they be?”
“Indeed, three. The proposal and request, I shall leave for later. I shall start with this: Rohzenheim is making a personnel appointment in light of the events that transpired during the war with the Demon Lord Army. We are informing you because this is a decision that involves your country.”
“I-Is that so? What are the details of this appointment?”
Instead of answering the prime minister, Filamehl turned to give Sophie a look. She nodded, prompting one of the elves standing at the rear to come forward and hand the Elder a rolled-up scroll of parchment. When he unfurled it, the nobles in the room fell silent.
He cleared his throat. “Hear the words of Her Majesty the Queen: to recognize the heroic achievements of Allen of the Kingdom of Ratash in the previous war and to acknowledge how crucial his continued aid to Rohzenheim’s future will be, we hereby appoint him the position of grand strategist.”
As the Elder slowly rolled the parchment back up, the murmuring in the room started buzzing again, louder than before. The king of Ratash and the prime minister exchanged looks. The former nodded, prompting the latter to turn back to the Elder and clear his throat.
“Ahem. Sir Filamehl, may we inquire as to the specific nature and status of the position of grand strategist in your country?”
Field Marshal Lukdraal stepped forward. “As it is a military position, I shall be the one to explain.” When he confirmed he had the king’s and prime minister’s attention, he continued, “In the military structure of the forces of Rohzenheim, the grand strategist is second only to the grand marshal. This is a position that has the authority to speak to the grand marshal on matters of military strategy. On the battlefield, the grand strategist also has the authority to give orders to the generals. This position has remained vacant in our forces for a long time, but the need for it has been made apparent in our recent war with the Demon Lord Army, and someone appropriate for the position has appeared. As such, the Elder Council decided to bring this position back.”
The longer the general went on in his brisk tone, the more the blood drained from the prime minister’s face.
“Th-That’s preposterous! The position second to the grand marshal?! That’s above the generals, even! How could you give the authority to mobilize your forces to a teenager who has yet to even graduate from the Academy?!”
“A clarification: this position ranks above field marshal—my position, that is. That is how highly we hold his achievements in esteem.”
The nobles’ chattering climbed a decibel. All they could see was a boy who, apart from his black hair, seemed perfectly normal. Sure, he was probably a pretty good fighter, considering that he had been dispatched to help in Rohzenheim’s war. But if he was that capable, he would have been properly recognized in Ratash. Suddenly being appointed to be the second-in-command of the military for one of the Alliance major powers was absolutely unheard of.
“Lord Allen’s request did have some bearing on this decision, but it was made with the unanimous agreement of the Elder Council and our queen. We all think this reward commensurate with what Lord Allen has already done for our country.” Filamehl continued. “I am sure your own country will have further opportunities to reward Lord Allen for his future contributions. When you do so, we ask that you remember our military ranks are comparable to your noble ranks. We are sorry for the inconvenience, but know that this is already a forgone decision.”
“Ugh...”
That’s right. Early bird gets the worm.
Allen thought back to when, right before he left Rohzenheim, the queen had approached him and insisted on thanking him for his contribution against the Demon Lord Army. He had replied, “Please give me a status similar to nobility in Ratash; any would do.” The reason for this answer was rooted in the explanation regarding nobility that Viscount Granvelle had given him back when he was looking for ways to restore Keel’s status.
According to the viscount, the nobles of this world were in general given their position as a reward to people for serving their country or making significant contributions. No matter how the person arrived at such circumstances, their investiture had to be sanctioned by a head of state. Furthermore, for the same reason, one person could only be appointed by one country at any given time.
And now that I’m technically another country’s noble, Ratash can’t make me one and order me around like how Invel dispatched me to Rohzenheim this time. Heh heh heh.
It was not clear whether this had been a part of the queen’s considerations, but the end result was that she and the Elder Council had decided together to revive the position of grand strategist and appoint Allen to it.
Rohzenheim did not have a noble structure like Ratash had because they believed that everyone was “equal before the spirits.” However, they did have positions like “general” and “Elder” for those involved with national self-defense and government, and these were acknowledged by other Five Continent Alliance nations as being equal to noble ranks.
The queen had told Allen that no particular duties came with the position of grand strategist. In turn, Allen told her that he would do everything he could should they ever need his help.
In short, this was how Allen managed to secure the freedom that he had wanted. This alone was worth the trip to Rohzenheim.
“The official proclamation will be sent to you on a later day. We are only informing you ahead of time today for your understanding.”
“I-I see. Your consideration is much appreciated.”
“Now, may we move on to the proposal?”
“Very well. What, uh, is it that you are proposing?” The prime minister looked very apprehensive about what the Elder would say next.
“Currently, our countries do not share official diplomatic relations. We would like to take this opportunity to do so formally and establish embassies in each other’s countr—”
Before Filamehl could even finish, the prime minister blurted out, “Is that true?! We would be more than happy to!” The apprehension on his face disappeared in the blink of an eye as the nobles in the room burst into cheers. Even King Invel leaned forward with sparkling eyes.
As Elder Filamehl had pointed out, of the major powers of the Five Continent Alliance, Ratash currently only had official relations with Giamut. While it was still trading with the other four, there were no mutual embassies or diplomacy. Because of this, Giamut often threw its weight around to make unreasonable demands, and Ratash did not have the national power to keep dodging these demands. If it was able to officially form relations with Rohzenheim, however, things might go differently.
This time, Ratash had received a bunch of elven elixirs as remuneration; next time, they just might be able to request an elven squad dispatch. And if Rohzenheim was willing to permanently station an ambassador at Ratash, this would give the impression that Ratash had Rohzenheim’s backing and therefore keep Giamut in check. This proposal was one that could drastically change Ratash’s standing within the Five Continent Alliance.
They seem so smitten with the idea that they’ve clearly forgotten having Rohzenheim as a backer means they also become susceptible to Rohzenheim’s own demands.
On a personal level, there were many things about Invel ascending to the Ratashian throne that worried Allen. That said, he had zero interest in playing politics, nor did he want to take the throne for himself. If Rohzenheim and Ratash were to establish official relations, however, he could simply go through Rohzenheim if he ever needed to influence Ratash on any matter.
Nodding with satisfaction at the response he received, Filamehl said, “That leaves us with the last matter: the request.”
“Ah, yes. What would that be?” The prime minister tried to dispel the fog of elation in his head so he could think straight.
“Please help Princess Sophialohne and Lord Allen.”
“Help...them? What do you mean?”
“Well, during the previous war, the Demon Lord Army destroyed many of our fortresses and cities in its advance.”
“I imagine so, yes.”
Even Fortenia got destroyed. The Demon Lord Army seriously went too far.
“Now, we are firmly committed to fighting the Demon Lord Army. As a part of this effort, our queen has ordered Princess Sophialohne to travel outside Rohzenheim to obtain further strength.”
“By which you mean...?” The prime minister shot a look at Rohzen. To his knowledge, Sophie was the only person who held the right of succession to Rohzenheim’s throne, and there was only one God of Spirits. In other words, this princess was practically confirmed to be the next elven queen.
“To fulfill the task bestowed upon her, Princess Sophialohne intends on challenging the Rank S dungeon in the Empire of Baukis.”
“Wha—?! The Tower of Tribulation?! Are you referring to that temple in Yanpany that Hero Helmios also attempted?!”
“The very one. She will need companions to aid her in this venture, and she has chosen, besides Lord Allen, other classmates from her time at the Ratashian Academy. Our request, therefore, is for official permission for them to head to Baukis.”
Krena, Dogora, Keel, and Cecil had been with Sophie as much as Allen during her Academy days. This was why they had also been dispatched to help Rohzenheim. However, unlike the previous time when the No-life Gamers were responding to a request for aid, they required a permit to travel overseas now that the war was over. While Sophie, Volmaar, and the newly appointed grand strategist of Rohzenheim could do so with permits from Rohzenheim, Cecil and the rest needed theirs from Ratash.
