Epilogue
Satou here. Sometimes when nothing seems to go your way, you’ll struggle with all your might, until finally you’ll find that everything just falls into place like dominoes. But that’s not just luck—it’s all the experience you built up while you were struggling.
“My, Sir Pendragon is actually a friend of yours, Rayleigh?”
“Well, sure. He saved my life, and he’s the investor and co-owner of my company, the Dragonpen Trading Company.”
After the viceroy’s wife apologized to me for the incident, we moved from the official parlor to a private living room.
Now that the misunderstanding had been resolved, the viceroy’s wife was so nice, she was like a completely different person.
“Madam, we’ve brought the gifts from Sir Pendragon.”
While we were chatting, a steward brought in my gifts on a pedestal.
Aside from the same light stone accessories I’d given out in the old capital, they were mostly goods I’d acquired on the sugar route.
Spotting the conspicuous sculpture of a young man on the pedestal, the viceroy uttered a breathy “Ooh!”
Remaining composed, his wife quickly started talking to cover his behavior.
“These are all quite valuable in the Shiga Kingdom, especially this sculpture here…”
However, with his geekdom unleashed, the viceroy couldn’t seem to stop himself.
“This is a masterpiece by Garudoira of the Flue Empire—from his fabled later period, no less! His apprentices could never evoke such liveliness! It’s undoubtedly by the hand of the master himself, and unquestionably—”
“…Dear.”
The viceroy’s wife stopped his fervent ranting about the artwork with a quiet word.
I’d just picked it out at random, so I was glad it turned out to be a piece that pleased the enthusiastic viceroy.
At any rate, this was an impressive room.
The opposite wall was largely made of glass panes, rare in Labyrinth City, that looked out onto a flourishing garden, and glass decorations throughout the room reflected the light beautifully.
Unlike the first room, where we hadn’t even had tea, this time we were brought delicious blue-green tea and delicate tea cakes.
The honey candies made by the chef were as beautiful as jewels, but they were a little too sweet for me.
“Wow, what unusual pastries.”
“So they’re called castellas, are they? Absolutely delightful.”
Rayleigh and his mother were thrilled by the sponge cakes I’d brought.
“Rayleigh, you said that Sir Pendragon is the co-owner of your company? Whatever do you mean?”
Once she’d finished her cakes, the viceroy’s wife returned to the subject we’d been discussing when we first entered the room.
“It’s just as I say. If it weren’t for him, I never would have thought to start a company like this.”
“All I did was provide Lord Rayleigh with some capital and ships.”
I didn’t want him to talk me up too much, so I simply provided the truth.
Now, the viceroy didn’t seem interested in the tea and cakes and was too busy deciding how to display his new sculpture to join in on the conversation.
“Oh, don’t be modest. Even an esteemed noble of the royal capital wouldn’t be able to provide three ships all on their own.”
Well, I just happened across those ships unmanned on the ocean, so…
“Besides, without your Liquor Marquis title and vast funds, we wouldn’t have been able to turn such a big profit so quickly.”
Vast funds? All I gave them was about twice as much as the amount of money they needed to start buying stock.
With my ridiculous wealth, that was practically pocket change.
“Liquor Marquis? I’ve scarcely heard the name before. Is it related to the Liquor Baron title from the Kingdom of Sorcery Lalagi?”
“That’s right. Liquor Marquis is a higher rank than Liquor Baron, comparable to a regular marquis in Lalagi. It’s like a magic title that makes almost all those awful tariffs disappear.”
Rayleigh bragged to his mother as if the title was his own.
Then he produced a jewelry box from the bag next to him and had a servant put it on the table.
“Tariff? It couldn’t be…”
“That’s right. It’s the Heaven’s Teardrop that the ladies of the royal capital love so much.”
Rayleigh grinned proudly as his mother opened the box and broke into a smile.
“Oooooh, good heavens! How very beautiful!”
The viceroy’s wife wasn’t the only one to exclaim in surprise. The ladies-in-waiting around us clutched one another and shrieked their admiration.
It was such a far cry from the graceful demeanor they’d been displaying that I almost got whiplash.
I guess Heaven’s Teardrops were just that popular.
“This is truly splendid craftsmanship. You can see the patterns so clearly when you hold it up to the light.”
“Mother, I’d like to sell these in a salon in the royal capital. Do you think you could put in a word for me with Count Litton’s wife?”
“Yes, of course. Ema will be thrilled.”
As Rayleigh told me later, Ema Litton was Count Litton’s wife, a close friend of the viceroy’s wife, and particularly skilled at spreading information among the noblewomen of the royal capital.
“Still, I’m amazed you were able to come by such an incredible product. Perhaps you have a gift for trade?”
“I’d like to think so, but this is thanks to Sir Pendragon’s influence, too. Since I was flying his noble flag, I was entrusted with bringing Prince Sabaan of the Kingdom of Ishrallie back to his homeland. Thanks to that connection, I was allowed to deal in Heaven’s Teardrops.”
“Then this isn’t just a onetime situation, I hope?”
The viceroy’s wife’s eyes glittered.
“Of course—as long as I continue to fly Sir Pendragon’s flag.”
Rayleigh turned to me and winked.
Japanese people didn’t really do that, though.
“Oh my, then I suppose we simply must treat Sir Pendragon as part of the family, hmm?”
The viceroy’s wife smiled at me wolfishly.
As long as she didn’t try to marry me off, I’d let them use my Liquor Marquis title as much as they liked.
“Mother, if you’re thinking of marrying him into one of our collateral families, please don’t.”
“Oh? The main family line, then?”
“No, that’s not what I mean. He’s lovesick over a queen from a fairy land, so he isn’t interested in any other marriage propositions right now.”
“Lovesick”? It was a little embarrassing to hear him say that in front of other people.
“So just try to accommodate him normally, okay?”
“Accommodate him, you say? Sir Pendragon, you did have a request earlier, did you not?”
“Yes, to have the public orphanage rebuilt…”
I paused in the middle of my statement and looked up the number of homeless kids in the city.
There were more than I expected. A public orphanage alone wouldn’t be able to take them all in.
“…and permission to start a private orphanage. I’d like to regularly distribute food, too, please.”
“You’re asking for philanthropy over any personal business interests? Wow, you really are a nice guy. You even helped those folks you rescued from pirates find new work in Lalagi.”
Rayleigh stared at me in surprise.
It’s not like I particularly enjoy volunteering or anything, though.
I just want to be able to enjoy life in Labyrinth City as carefreely as I possibly can.
I couldn’t exactly walk around eating tasty food without feeling guilty if I was going to see kids starving in alleys along the way.
“Well, I’m certain we can grant those requests right away. The public orphanage existed until not too long ago, so we can just have it rebuilt.”
The viceroy’s wife was quick to comply with my requests.
“Do you have a plot of land or building in mind for the private orphanage yet? If not, please have my butler help you—Bastian, set Sir Pendragon up with the proper real estate and materials.”
The latter part was directed toward a butler standing by the wall.
Between him and Sebaf, the butler in the old capital, I couldn’t help wondering why these butlers came so close to the classic butler name without quite getting there.
Still, there were plenty of empty plots of land and houses around my mansion, so I could probably just have those repaired for the private orphanage.
Good thing I took the guild up on their offer to sell me all that land together.
When it came time to hire staff for the orphanage, I planned to have Viscount Siemmen, his noble friends, and the viceroy’s wife help me find the right people.
Thus, our productive tea party came to an end, and Rayleigh walked me back to the entrance.
“If trade keeps up like this, we should be able to pay back your money within three years. In fact, I’d love to buy more ships if we can.”
“I’ll put in a request with a merchant I know, then. He just sent me a letter not too long ago that they’d received three new ships.”
I gave Rayleigh the fictional merchant’s name: Akindoh.
At some point, I’d have to befriend someone with the “Name Order” skill and add that alias to my name list in my networking tab.
“These are your dividends from our first trip. From now on, I’ll send them to you via the money order system in the commerce guild.”
As I accepted the heavy bag of money, I was surprised to learn that money orders existed in this world.
It made sense, though. There weren’t many people with the “Item Box” skill, so carrying all this heavy gold around could probably get pretty difficult.
“Welcome home. Judging by your expression, I’m guessing it went well?”
When I returned to the house, Arisa greeted me from the garden, where she was showing the hired children how to weave grass into cords.
The little kids all welcomed me back with smiles, too.
“Yeah, I got permission to rebuild the public orphanage. The Shiga Kingdom is going to take care of all the budget and staffing for the public one, too. As for the private orphanage, they’re going to put me in touch with some good craftsmen, and they’re even going to add our area to the city guards’ patrol route.”
Now I could devote myself to crafting, exploring the labyrinth with the girls, and so on without having to worry about anything else.
“Wow, that’s amazing. What kind of spell did you use?”
“It’s a bit of a long story. Let’s make some tea and I’ll tell you about it.”
I tasked Arisa with bringing in the rest of the group from their work.
The sandy breeze from the desert tousled my hair.
Looking up, I saw a beautiful full moon with not a cloud in the sky.
“What perfect weather.”
I hadn’t mentioned this because I didn’t want to undermine Princess Meetia, but one of my cure-alls or elixirs could probably have cured the viceroy’s daughter.
For now, they had Princess Meetia’s Breath of Purification to keep the illness at bay, so I would investigate a bit more before offering my own medicine.
I wanted to use the basement laboratory of the Ivy Manor to make magic items from the materials we got in the labyrinth anyway, and now I finally had the time to do all of that.
The main purpose of our trip to Labyrinth City, raising everyone’s levels, would probably be accomplished within the next month or two.
This city didn’t seem to have much discrimination against demi-humans, so we could stay here while I worked on my new goal: making original armor, with the help of Arisa and Mia, that could stand up against the likes of a greater hell demon.
“Now all we have to do is relax and enjoy living in the labyrinth.”
I waved at Arisa and the others as they came running toward me and smiled to myself as I thought about our pleasant prospects for the future.
Time for another day of enjoying life in another world!
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