By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 12 - Chapter 18

Chapter 7, Episode 56: Follow-Up #2

It was nice to have a pleasant conversation with them for a short while, but I couldn’t contain the question I was dying to ask.

“Uh, do you mind if I ask you something?” I asked.

“Of course,” Reinhart answered. “You were in the thick of it, Ryoma. We know we owe you some explanations.”

“Where would you like to start?” said Elise.

“For starters...is it all over?” I asked.

“Most certainly,” Reinhart said. “The man who orchestrated the attacks is gone. After getting the proof we needed, I raided his manor with a squadron of royal knights and executed him myself. I’ve been told you know his identity already.”

“Guessing from what Hudom told me...he was the Earl Volcano. Son of the former margrave who ruled where Lord Reinbach made his name for signing a divine beast.”

Reinhart nodded and explained the rest. This was the gist:

It had been back when the previous duke, Reinbach Jamil, had successfully contracted a divine beast as his familiar. In order to protect his land and people, which were being ravaged by dragons, the margrave at the time—Volcano’s father—and his army risked their lives to fend off the first attack, but they couldn’t fight off the subsequent waves. Dragonfire burned down cities, racking up casualties. Later, the dragons had been driven away by Reinbach, who’d been awarded praise and glory, while the lord of the land at the time, the former margrave, had been accused of incompetence.

“Lots of infighting among nobles,” Elise chimed in. “Many nobles in the military defended the margrave’s actions, of course. But those who’d only known battles from inside palace walls—and those who had vendettas against him—would criticize him behind his back for failing to protect his land, even with his militia in tow, when Reinbach had done so all on his own. He lost a lot of power and money. He was injured from battle. His heir, the man behind the attacks on Gimul, was a newborn at the time. Deemed unfit to rule, his land was temporarily returned to the king... It was an unfortunate combination.”

“He would have been reinstated once the dust had settled—would’ve kept his title and everything. I even heard that he was secretly engaged to a marquis’s daughter... He couldn’t live with how he’d been treated, though,” Reinhart said.

When Reinhart had led the knights into the manor, the only ones inside were the earl and an elderly servant. There were no valuables left in the house. The earl had taken poison, along with a magical potion that boosted his physical strength—he’d come swinging at Reinhart. In the end, he’d used a magical item to set the manor ablaze in an attempt to take out everyone there with him.

“Some nobles did aid in his cause,” said Reinhart. “But none of them had the power or the gumption to oppose us out in the open. Especially since we have evidence incriminating some of them in other crimes. They wouldn’t be scheming to do anything else, not while they have bigger fires to put out. If I had to mention being concerned about anything, it would be the involvement of the underground guild and the fact that valuables were missing from the earl’s house. Still, they won’t be pulling off anything nearly as large-scale as this attack. Some of my staff and the knights’ order are still investigating in the capital. Serge’s would-have-been assassin is another lead in our grasp.”

Oh, yeah. I forgot about him. The assassin who’d tried to take Serge’s life was currently detained in a special room in the basement. Upon apprehending and unarming him, a poison slime indicated that he had taken a slow-acting poison. Quite a commotion that had caused, but a Cleaner Slime stomach pump had bought us time and produced a sample of the poison so the medical team could conjure up an antidote, which they’d done in time. The assassin was alive and exhausted. We didn’t know exactly how much the assailant had been privy to, and he would face strict interrogation when the time was right.

Elise carried on gravely, “There’s something we need to consider first.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Other nobles trying to headhunt you,” she said.

Apparently, my actions were a topic of gossip among nobles. I’d known it would only be a matter of time before the other nobles would hear of me and my actions... Well, I supposed that time had come. Of course, I wouldn’t change a thing I’d done, though.

“We can’t ignore that, both for the benefit of our people and us personally. To make things easier, we would like to officially offer you a position as an engineer,” Elise said.

“A full-time technician position, you mean. If I recall correctly, you offered me the position of Third Engineer before,” I said.

“That’s what we had in mind when we last spoke about it. Considering how you helped solve this case and jumped into helping with the rescues right after—not to mention everything else you’ve done along the way—I think Second Engineer is more fitting,” she said. “In particular, your highly efficient slime-run farms and supplements made from argan slime moss can both save people from starvation. Those accomplishments alone would be enough for us to make you an engineer.”

“So we would be honored if you accepted this position,” Reinhart said. “What do you say?”

I was honored by the offer, and I knew it’d be my best option for avoiding unwanted dealings with other nobles in the near future. Still, I hesitated to accept.

Elise gently demanded an explanation. “Don’t hesitate to tell us if you have any concerns or requests.”

“No requests,” I said. “It’s a wonderful offer. One I don’t deserve. I must have said this before, but I am a selfish person. But if I had the title of duke’s engineer, it would mean that any trouble I caused would come back to hurt the Jamils’ reputation. That’s what I’m worried about, to be honest.”

Thinking back on it now, I chose to be a hermit in the woods and live in an abandoned mine outside the city because, deep down, I was anxious about city life and the social pressure it represented. Even in Japan, I’d always felt like I didn’t quite belong. So how could I have completely blended into a city in another world, with its own culture and customs?

If I had left Earth when I was younger... I sometimes wondered this, but I’d remind myself that I hadn’t fit in when I was young either. The best I could hope for was that I hadn’t made too many remarks like, “Back in my day.” So what was going to happen when I grew older in this world? Once upon a time, I would have told myself to keep trying. To not give up. I’d have told myself an optimistic lie, all the while bottling up how I really felt. Underneath all the self-encouragement, I never really trusted myself to change.

Now that I’d realized that about myself, I could finally admit that I couldn’t do it. Pessimism lightened the load on my heart. Therefore I’d live my life the way I wanted to and let the chips fall where they may. If people were unhappy about that, that was their prerogative...unless that came back to haunt the Jamils, their staff, or anyone else I cared about. In human society, it wasn’t uncommon for a whole organization to take the blame for the actions of one of its members. Back in Japan, I’d occasionally heard about new hires doing something stupid that ruined their company’s reputation. If I ended up repaying the Jamils’ kindness by harming their reputation, I really couldn’t live with myself.

Choosing my words carefully, I explained to the duke and duchess that this was how I honestly felt. Even though I was flat-out refusing their kindness, their mouths curved into smiles.

“I think I see how independent you’ve finally become, Ryoma. You’re much more grown up than we thought.” Elise’s tone suddenly changed. “But we can’t take no for an answer this time. As we’ve said, your accomplishments are already widely known. Nobles who won’t recognize accomplishments with proper rewards lose support. Other nobles will call us out on it too. To protect our reputation, I need you to accept, whether you like it or not. Especially since you understand how the actions of an individual can affect those around them.”

“Elise is right,” Reinhart said. “Just in case you’ve forgotten, there’s a requirement to maintaining your position as engineer. Annually, you should be able to present a certain amount of progress in your research. I’ll be giving you some leeway, but failure to show progress for long enough will force me to revoke your position. I can do the same if you’re involved in any scandal too. If I ever think that the drawbacks of keeping you around outweigh the benefits, I won’t hesitate to toss you to the wind.”

Well, they’d given me no choice—I couldn’t even argue. While I sensed some truth in their harsh command, they had spoken like this on purpose. To reassure me that they’d let me hang if something were to happen, so I shouldn’t let that prevent me from accepting their offer. It must have been hard for them to tie my hands like this and even threaten to cut me loose if I brought trouble... However I might try to argue, I could tell they wouldn’t budge. No doubt this was a great opportunity, so I didn’t feel the need to drag out the negotiations.

“All right. I’ll humbly accept the job,” I said.

The duke and duchess flashed me gentle smiles.

“Wonderful,” Elise said. “I’ll just need your signature on a few papers. Oh, what should we put down as your specialty? You have a lot of ventures in the works.”

“Can you put ‘slime research’ on there?” I asked. It was true that I’d dabbled in various projects, but at the center of them all had been the research into my slimes. What else could I claim to be an expert on, if not that?

“I thought you’d say that,” Elise said.

“Would that be a problem?” I asked.

“There’s no precedent, but it’s definitely not a problem. Also... Oh, I wanted to ask you about Baron Veldoole’s son.”

Who? It took me a second, but a face came to mind. “You mean Hudom?”

“Yes. You didn’t know his family name?” Reinhart asked.

“Only that his father was a duke. He said he didn’t deserve to use his family name, and I didn’t want to pry. I’m sorry to derail our conversation.”

“That’s all right,” Elise said. “Feel free to ask us any questions. I think we’ve told you before about how we provide protection, funds, and places and assistants for your experiments, if needed. What would you think of hiring Hudom Veldoole as your assistant?”

“If I were to hire an assistant, I’d prefer Hudom to any stranger, since I’m comfortable with him. But isn’t he currently employed?”

“About that... We’re going to be holding on to him for a while,” Reinhart explained. “We trust His Majesty, but since he had employed the baron’s son as a spy, he thought it wise to keep him in our company both to safeguard the young man’s secrets and as a token of apology for sending him in the first place... That’s not all of his reasons, though.” His face showing a hint of weariness, Reinhart sipped on his tea. There had clearly been some back-and-forth about Hudom, but if he and Elise, and even the king approved, I certainly had no qualms against making Hudom my assistant. Especially when I’d kept him by my side knowing full well that he was a spy.

“So he’s been slated to work for us,” Elise continued. “Change in our staff can be an ordeal. Rather than assign him some meaningless post, we thought it would be best for him to continue working for you.”

“That’s what he requested too,” Reinhart said. “He had no complaints about his terms of employment, and he thinks he can keep up his training with you and your other employees. The part about him going on a training journey was true.”

“That makes sense. As long as you and he are happy with it, so am I,” I said. “He was popular at the shop, and he’ll be of great help when it looks like business is only growing there.”

“It’s settled, then. By the way, as long as you are in our care, I won’t tolerate him leaking information to anybody—even the royal family—so don’t worry about that,” Reinhart said.

“Once you’re an engineer, you can treat your shop as a ‘workshop’ or ‘laboratory,’ especially if it helps your business,” Elise added.

This was a great perk. Even though I had always been under some protection of the Jamils, my official engineer title would solidify their protection and make my business more trustworthy. “Thank you.”

“Quid pro quo, since you’re providing us with your expertise. In fact, I’d feel better if you demanded more from us,” Reinhart admitted.

Something else I could demand...? I had to think about that one; there was nothing to be found off the top of my mind. “Demand... Well, we’re short on lumber right now. Firewood, especially.”

“As for that, we’ve already requested aid from nearby cities, as much as possible,” said Reinhart. “Our space magic users are on it, taking care of communication and transportation. Deliveries should start coming in any day now. And that’s something the city needs, Ryoma. Not you.”

“That’s the only thing that comes to mind right now,” I said.

“Doesn’t have to be now or never,” Elise said. “Just tell us when there’s something you need.” She turned to Reinhart. “He keeps calling himself selfish, and all he can think about is helping other people!”

“I do it because I’m selfish. Just like a really sinister villain doesn’t look the part, being openly selfish is a quick way to lose respect and lose out on the benefits that come with the respect of others in the long run. The most efficient way to be selfish is to act selfless—at least on the surface.”

Reinhart responded like I was an obstinate child. “I understand what you’re saying, and I suppose you’re right...”

“But at the end of the day,” Elise added, “you’re still being selfless.”

A few moments passed, before we all burst out laughing. Once we’d settled down, we went over all the details of my new position, the night peacefully darkening outside.