The feeling of meeting someone with a high position, I didn’t experience that not even once when I was still in earth. But after getting here, I’ve been experiencing that a lot. And to be honest, it doesn’t feel good in the slightest.

***

Thanks to Ghena and Jane who told me what happened, I barely managed to stop the two girls from killing each other.

I couldn’t help but get angry at them because they are fighting over something trivial. When I told them that I was going to marry them both at the same time, they dropped on the floor and begged me for forgiveness. But this is something I won’t slide. They did something very terrible so I gave them punishments. Of course, the most brutal one I know.

“Both of you are not allowed to stand up until afternoon. If I hear things like using magic to ease up the pain from Ghena or Jane, I’ll increase the duration and weight when I get back. Understand?”

“Y-yes!”

“To think I, the daughter of the great Vrethar Balerishk, be reduced to this state, such shame…”

With teary eyes, Cherry tried her best to answer me. On the other hand, Matt is lowering down her head while muttering some stuff. They are currently experiencing the punishment I’m giving them.

If you’re going to ask what their punishment is, they are currently kneeling while wearing only their underwear on salt crystals with a wooden slab above their legs. Not only that, the stone slabs aren’t normal slabs, they are enchanted with earth magic > and gravity magic >. I’m not really that heartless so I let their hands free, but it’s useless to try and lift the slab since the moment they put their hands on it, it’ll stick there until the effect wears off. Also, the duration of the magic is only until afternoon.

And about the [Gravity Magic], I was taught how to use it by Fleiya. It was really easy to use it that I missed the idea of it being a catalyst-type magic. [Catalyst-Type] magic are the types of magic that can’t be used without using any materials like wood, metal, water, etc. And [Gravity Magic] only have spells that needs a catalyst. This explains why the Fleiya’s mountain had a barrier-like level of Gravity amplification. She used the surrounding Mithril around the area to bring down the gravity. In my case, I’m using the effect of > as the catalyst for >.

“Ghena, Jane, I want you two to watch over them. But if the two of you try to help them, you’re next.”

I’m really in a bad mood, really! I think that thought was transmitted towards Ghena and Jane which caused them to shiver while answering my instruction.

When I exited the room, there stood Lapis on the hallway while carrying Marie, and behind them is Sora leaning on the wall while looking at me with a grin. On the other hand, Marie looked like she’s about to cry while looking at me and then decided to bury her face on Lapis shoulder.

“I never thought you’d have a very scary side. I guess no one really can judge a book by its cover.”

“I don’t have time for jokes.”

While passing through them, I then went downstairs and met up with my knights. When I looked at them, they are wearing stiff expressions like a general is walking towards them.

“What’s the problem?”

I asked them since I don’t have the slightest idea why they are like that. Thankfully Sanjeet is open enough to me and stepped forward to answer my question.

“You’re wearing a very scary expression right now. I think you need to cool off before we go.”

“Oh, so that’s the problem huh. I thought it was something else.”

I can’t help if my face looks very scary right now. There are too many things in my head right now that’s giving me a lot of stress like the thing about meeting the king. This incident might have given him a bad impression of me.

“Aside from Sanjeet and Amly, everyone can do whatever they want.”

After ordering them to leave, Sanjeet and Amly remained in the living room and waited for the rest of my commands. When I told them to be at ease, Amly dropped her shoulders while letting out a huge sigh.

“I never thought that you’re capable of making such face Sir Chardelier.”

She looked at me with a half-impressed face while making a slightly worried smile.

“I apologize if I scared you, I’m just so stressed out that I can’t help but show it on my face.”

“I understand, although I do think that running a huge business, having two wives, and raising up Marie is stressful, you need to be more patient and calmer more of the time. Like today, just because your wives made a fight, you need to be more considerate of them. Personally, I think the root cause of their fight is because you didn’t give them anything to agree on.”

“Despite being looking like a kid, you’re quite the mature one, aren’t you Amly?”

“Is that an insult or a compliment?!”

Leaving aside Amly who is angrily puffing her cheeks cutely, what she said to me is quite true. Although I do agree with her, I can’t just show a poor reaction to Cherry and Matt’s fighting. As their soon-to-be husband, I should show them my authority, but I can’t say that in front of Amly who’s a girl. She might get insulted.

“Leaving personal matters aside, I want you two to protect 'this' when we go to the meeting.”

After saying that, I then tapped a long box on the table beside us. Sanjeet and Amly looked at the box that has a very fancy design with curious eyes.

“What’s in it? Ah wait! Isn’t it useless to protect it? We have Sora with us after all.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but he isn’t going to come with us. Due to private reasons, he can’t show himself to the King of the Dwarves.”

When I denied Sanjeet’s opinion, he nodded while making a complex expression.

“Now then. Since the page has arrived, we will be going to the Castle with you two as my guards.”

“But why us? Can’t it be your fiancées? They’re strong after all.”

“True, but they’re not knights. And if they accompany me, trouble will surely follow. Those two never get along.”

Both of them nodded in agreement when I answered Amly’s question. After all, those two are like flammable liquid with only a small attempt of mixing would lead to an explosion.

“Now let’s go. We can’t have the King wait for us after that ruckus my fiancées made earlier.”

***

So we skip the part where we travel since it’s too boring.

When we arrived in the [Dwarven Palace], our carriage immediately went to the Royalty circle. After arriving in front of a large and very sturdy looking building, we were immediately welcomed by Miss Mayly and some few dwarven guards.

“Welcome Sir Chardelier, you’re the last one to arrive.”

“My apologies. There was an unprecedented event at my place which made me come here a bit late. Did the fight between my fiancées disturb the King?”

“No, in fact, it actually amused the King when he heard the report. And to be honest, this isn’t the worst thing that has have happened here.”

So the King is an easy-going type of guy huh… that’s quite unexpected.

We chatted as we are led inside the building.

For obvious reasons, there are a lot of guards stationed on our path. They are all armed to the teeth with both swords and guns. I guess they’re just being cautious after I showed them the way I stopped two advanced level magic at the same time without losing my life.

And about that, what the people saw was just a big illusion I created. The truth is, although I looked like I stood there without a scratch, I actually received heavy blows from both sides. Their attacks were so strong that I couldn’t stop it even continuously summoning > every time it breaks. Since I could die any moment at that time, I used another magic which is the >. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t able to hold off the power of Cherry and Matt’s magic so I added > > > on the arm guards. But it still wasn’t enough, so I had to forcefully break both magic with > even though I have no knowledge of the composition of their skill which is very dangerous. Lucky enough, I managed to cut off the connection between the caster and the magic and stopped them. But even though I have infinite amounts of mana, my brain got tired after using those spells continuously.

In addition, I even got some burns all over my body so I had to drink healing potions in secret on my way here. I’ve already drank my 4th bottle already and my breath smells like grass. Good thing I brought [Mint Sheet] with me and chewed on it.

And by the way, I’m still using illusionary magic to hide most of my wounds that haven’t healed yet. I need another bottle of healing potion.

“We’ve arrived.”

When Miss Mayly said so, the wooden doors of a certain room were opened by the guards.

Upon entering, there are 5 groups that are composed of one important looking person and two guards. And if I add my group, there are 18 people here in this room who are sitting in two rows in front of a long table with their two guards behind them.

“Due to special reasons, the King will be the one who will conduct business with everyone here, thus I will remain here as one of his majesty’s guards and secretary.”

After saying that, she then rushed towards the other end of the table and stood behind a short but buffed dwarf. This dwarf has a very strong expression while looking at me. His fingers that are holding a golden chalice are so thick that it looked like a piece of wood. His beard is so long that it hid most of his body is hidden behind it. And most of all, on his head is a crown which signifies authority in the room. Without a doubt, this dwarf is the Dwarven King.

“So you really do look like your grandfather just like the report says.”

While looking at me, he suddenly spoke with a slightly amused expression. I wonder why.

“Aside from being late, I’d like to express my deepest apologies for the disturbance caused by my fiancées.”

I bowed lightly to the King with outmost respect. Sanjeet and Amly also followed suit while panicking a bit. I guess they’re not used to the atmosphere of nobles.

“Apology accepted. Please sit down so that we can immediately conduct our business here.”

After that, I then sat on an iron chair which is nearest to me.

Skipping some parts, almost every one of us has finished introducing ourselves. We also showed our proof of being a [Beyond Borders Trader] to the king and the rest.

And right now, there are two people making an argument in front of each other. These people are Voslog Eh’xie who is a Beastfolk (half wolf), and Eudi Resterte who is human with a dark complexity. They are arguing about the trade of weapons being supplied to their countries.

It seems that Voslog, who is from the country of Mhak’sentyr, is currently at war with the neighboring country and needed weapons from Berigious to continue their retaliation. And on the other hand, Eudi who is from the neighboring country next to Valeshtyre kingdom is also wanting the supplies of weapons because their kingdom is close to a Labyrinth.

It started as a calm conversation, but along the way, it became a yelling from both sides. And while listening to them, I got the gist why they are like that.

“My country needs the supply more! We’re at war so the swords and armors are in high demand, and not only that, we also need cultivation tools to plow the land so we can provide food for our people!”

“Who cares about your people? I’m here for the same reason except for the fact that we needed the supply of weapons for the continuous subjugation of monsters that are in the Labyrinth in our Kingdom! If the supply happens to get cut off, our country would get overrun by monsters.”

“Then why don’t you tell your king to move your country away from the Labyrinth? Humans really are a bunch of idiots.”

“Speak for yourself you mutt!”

Leaving aside the topic about weapons, Voslog and Eudi clearly shows their dislike to each other. It’s pretty obvious that both of them are racist. Even in this world….

Because of the words they threw at each other, both of them became agitated and started pulling out their swords followed by their guards. In a chain reaction, the others also started pulling out their weapons and wands.

Well, all except for me and the person who’s wearing a cloak to hid his face.

“SILENCE!”

With a slam on the table, Miss Mayly grabbed everyone’s attention and gave us a dangerous glare. However, the King himself has remained calm the whole time.

“We came here to conduct business, not war. If neither of you cannot show etiquette fit of a noble, I’ll kick you out of here myself!”

Scary… Miss Mayly is really scary when she’s angry.

Maybe because of what she said, the rest of the people here in the room sheathed their swords and sat back down while glaring at each other. I guess none of them want to jeopardize their objective here huh.

“I would like everyone here to follow Sir Chardelier and Sir Theethys’s example. If you still don’t want to do it, then that means you don’t do business. And if you don’t do business, then that means you’re not allowed in this room.”

Who she referred as Sir Theethys is the guy who is wearing the over-cloak. Though he himself didn’t react to the aggressiveness of the others, his guards had their hands above their swords’ handle and is prepared to retaliate anytime.

I on the other hand, got scared shitless. Because I wasn’t able to react due to the shock, it looked like I was calm on the outside and ended up getting misunderstood.

When the air inside the room calmed down, Miss Mayly continued the discussion between the two. Not only that, she acted as a median to the king’s words without looking stressed which is really impressive.

“Due to the bad weather, the supply chain to Mhak’sentyr will be temporarily cut-off. We have to wait for the winter to stop because the wind from the sea and the sea itself are too dangerous. Until then, you and your group can stay here in Berigious for free. And to Garithial, nothing will change. However, since you haven’t paid the remaining 30% which is 130 gold coins from last month’s delivery, I will have to cut-off our supply to you.”

Although Miss Mayly had said the good part, Sir Voslog doesn’t look really happy about it. He’s only looking down on the table while clenching his fist in frustration. I guess he really needed the supply of weapons huh.

If my memory serves me right, Mhak’sentyr is on another continent. According to the maps and books, there are two ways in traveling there. The first one is by boat, but since the tides are very dangerous between the two continents, only huge ones are allowed to sail such distances, and the journey also lasts up to 3 weeks or more. The second one is by Air-Ship. This ship is said to have the body of a boat and is tied up to a huge balloon above it. Since the balloon itself is flammable, they use some sort of magic to propel and steer the ship. Although I haven’t seen one myself, I can tell that this method is obviously faster.

On the other hand, Sir Eudi is trying to reason his way with Mayly. Because he didn’t fully pay his last payment, it’s pretty obvious how he’ll be treated.

Hmm… Maybe I should give him a loan? 15% interest rate?

Oh… My mind veered off to another direction. I didn’t notice that the next one to stand was the guy with a cloak. It seems that he and Miss Mayly are already accustomed with each other that even with few words, they are able to communicate with each other. He doesn’t talk that much? I wonder why.

“As usual, the trade between our gems and jewels with your [Calry Silk] is still unchanged. And please give ‘him’ my regards.”

“Yes.”

It may be my imagination, but isn’t this guy’s voice a bit too high pitched?

Leaving that aside, what is this [Calry Silk] they’re talking about? For some reason, this thing really piqued my interest.

“Pardon my intrusion. May I ask what this [Calry Silk] is?”

Because I suddenly spoke without any warning, everyone turned their heads towards me. They all looked like they saw a ghost. I could read from their expression the phrase “This guy was here?”

“Sir Chardelier, [Calry Silk] is a special type of cloth that absorbs mana and can be used to create [Magic Array] in tapestry form. Some even use it as clothes for protection.”

In other words, this is what Matt was looking for. I want to buy it.

“How much is this [Calry Silk] worth? Personally, I’m interested on how it works.”

Then, with an apologetic expression, Miss Mayly denied my question to Sir Theethys.

“I’m really sorry, Sir Chardelier. [Calry Silk] is something exclusive only to us Dwarves. Although we do sell them as finished product such as clothes, we don’t resell raw materials as the maker does not allow any disclosing of information regarding them.”

“It’s also the past Kings’ Decree, so there is nothing I can do about it even as a King myself.”

It seems that the King is also apologetic about the matter.

It may be my imagination but, isn’t the King too nice to me? Maybe it’s because they’re acquainted with my Grandfather? Mysteries keep on piling up one after another.

“Is that so? Then it cannot be helped then. And since I’m already the one talking here, May I ask for the reason why I am also called here? Not that I have any qualms about it, it just makes me curious.”

After saying so, their apologetic expression changed and the king leaned back to his chair. The other guard beside him rushed out of the room after receiving an order. I didn’t hear it.

“Your grandfather is known here in Berigious as a collector of broken things such as magic swords and items. He has an outstanding skill in [Alchemy] and can create his own magic weapons from broken ones. Even so, he keeps on buying our products, good or broken.”

“And what does that have to do with me?”

Before answering my question, he looked at the guard that just came back with a wooden box that is 9 inches in width and 12 inches in length. It seems that it’s also a very precious item just by looking at the carvings at the side of the box.

When the guard stood by the King, he opened the box for everyone to see.

“Wait, isn’t this?!”

“I never thought that I’d see this thing here!”

Everyone’s expressions were in shock… well everyone except me. After all, what’s inside the box is just pieces of broken red glass. Although they do look like rubies, I doubt that they are that just by looking at the people’s expression here.

“Uhm… I’m still not knowledgeable on such things yet. Can anyone enlighten me?”

When I said that, everyone looked at me with expressions saying “Is this guy serious?” I’m sorry, I’m not from this world.

After a long explanation, I was able to understand what it is. It turns out that these things are broken pieces of a [Dungeon Core]. Although it doesn’t have any use when left alone, it has infinite uses for a magician and is almost considered as a national treasure. A lot of countries are aiming for such an item, but it makes me curious as to why it was shown to me.

“I showed this to everyone here because I want to auction this to every representative of their countries with the exception of Sir Chardelier.”

“And what do you want me to do with it?”

Then after that, he showed me a cunning smile which is similar to a business man’s.

“I would like you to buy it from us.”