Chapter 315: Idle Talk 14: My Friend Did It Again

Idle Talk 14: My Friend Did It Again

“Father, it’s Alfried. May I come in?”

I, Alfried, had a business with my father, Tristan, the King of this country.

“Yeah, I don’t mind.”

“Excuse my intru——”

The moment I got permission and entered the room, I couldn’t help but choke on my words.

The reason for this was because in the room were not only my father, but also the Prime Minister Duke Ford, my brothers Austin and Felix, and even my great-uncle Lionel, all surrounding my father’s office desk.

My mother, Grace, was also there, but she was sitting on a sofa some distance away, reading something.

“Eh? You all here… what happened?”

“Alfried, a letter from Takumi arrived.”

While surprised, Elder brother Austin told me what was going on.

Takumi is a young man who works as an adventurer with his younger siblings and is a friend of mine. It seems that Takumi has sent a letter.

Takumi is a commoner, but he is a valuable person who treats me as a normal person without being more humble than necessary or trying to flatter me. Therefore, all of us in the family like Takumi and want to be close to him.

Takumi, however, is a little out of the ordinary, and there is a fear that he might do something outrageous while he is out of sight. That’s why we told Takumi to write letters periodically to give us a status report. It was more of an order from my mother than a request.

So that means, is that the letter that she is reading so happily?

“From Takumi? You are in quite a heavy mood for that, aren’t you?”

“This was enclosed with the letter.”

“Huh?”

Father showed me a sealed envelope with the words “Top Secret” written on it.

“What is this?”

“That’s what I have been discussing with everyone.”

“What Grace is reading now, including the children’s letter, is well… I’m hesitant to call it ordinary, but the problem is the contents of this one.”

What did Takumi do?

It hasn’t been that long since he and Elder brother Austin went to Crete, and now he’s acting in a way that’s hard to call normal?

“Since this was inside in its own envelope, there’s a high probability that what is inside will be abnormal.”

“Father, rather than saying that it’s a high probability, there is definitely something strange written on it.”

Everyone averted their gazes after hearing Elder brother Felix’s interjection.

“Tristan, we are not getting anywhere like this. Let’s look inside.”

When Great-uncle urged Father to open the envelope, everyone nodded with consent.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om

“Alright. Let’s open it.”

We all gulped and focused on his hand as he opened the envelope.

“There seems to be a single piece of paper inside.”

“… What is written on it, I wonder?”

“Alright, let me read it.”

My father unfolded the paper and placed it on the desk with great force. As we were surroundings the table, we peeked at it all at once.

——[We were given Crystal Elk antlers, so we can send them over, if you need them.]

“”””””……””””””

When we read the words on the letter, we were all speechless.

It was written in a very concise manner, so we knew what it said right away, but it took us a while to understand it.

“This is way beyond unexpected…”

“You know, Takumi, can easily propose something so outrageous without treating it as such.”

“I was quite surprised about the Majesta leaf too, but to be able to surpass that…”

My father and brother had distant looks on their faces.

Crystal Elk antlers are a rare among rarerst of the commodities. In all honesty, it’s probably the one item that everyone desperately wants.

“Takumi is indeed amusing.”

“Lionel-sama, please don’t leave it at amusing. This is not kind to my stomach.”

“Why don’t you retire and hand me over your position then?”

“That might be a good idea. I should have my son-in-law work hard.”

Great-uncle looked amused, but the Prime Minister rubbed his belly with a tired look on his face. Moreover, he said something so unthinkable so readily.

“I’m sure Takumi wouldn’t have touched the Crystal Elks even by mistake, but…”

Crystal Elks are protected creatures, and it’s criminal to hurt them. Takumi’s knowledge seems to be one-sided, but… there’s no way he wouldn’t know that, right?… Right?

“Ah!”

“What is it, Alfried?”

“Elder brother, this letter has the word ‘given’ in it.”

“Now that you mention it, it indeed does. Eh? Given? The Crystal Elk antlers?”

“Are there any people that would readily hand over Crystal Elk antlers in their possession?”

“””……”””

Even though I noticed the big detail, there was still too much confusion.

“… He couldn’t possibly receive it from the Crystal Elks themselves, right… he couldn’t, right?”

“I won’t deny the possibility. Takumi and the twins are beings that were accepted by wyverns and gryphons, after all. There’s a possibility that they were accepted by the Crystal Elks, too.”

It’s a pretty insane imagination, but I feel like that’s the biggest probability!

“That’s probably it, isn’t it?”

“Mother?”

“The children’s letter says ‘We became friends with Mister Elk’.”

“Eh, really?”

“Yeah, they also say that there were many of them. They probably received a lot of antlers, too~”

We all let out a deep sigh at Mother’s words.

“Alfried, it’s still not too late. Why don’t you go to Takumi-san’s and accompany them on their travels?”

“I don’t think I would be able to keep up, so I will pass.”

“Oh my, how unfortunate.”

I don’t know what Takumi and the twins are going to do next. I might enjoy myself if it was just for a few days, but I’m sure I’ll be exhausted all the time if I accompanied them on a long journey. Furthermore, I don’t think I could handle such a big role.

Takumi, please pull yourself together a little~