Chapter 365: Chapter 349

Summons

When I sent a letter to the castle asking when I could visit, a reply immediately arrived, asking us to come the next day at noon.

The next day, I arrived at the castle with the children, and was shown not to an audience hall or a reception room, but to a lounge used privately by the royal family.

“Allen-kun, Elena-chan, come this way please.”

“”Okay~””

“You two seem to be doing well. You did not get injured anywhere, did you?”

“”All good!””

As soon as they entered the room, Allen and Elena were called by Grace-sama and taken to a corner where Aurora-sama and Julius-sama were together.

“This way, Takumi.”

“......”

I was then summoned to a space where Tristan-sama, Austin-sama, Felix-sama, Alfried-sama Lionel-sama, and the Prime Minister, the Duke Ford, and one other man were present.

“Long time no see, Takumi.”

“Yes, it has been a while. Still... what a gathering this is.”

“I believe it would be for the best to share information with everyone here. Now, sit over there.”

I sat down at the seat that was pointed out to me, but the distinguished faces around me made me uncomfortable.

“Takumi, thank you for the help with the Cretian affairs.”

“You seem to be doing well, Takumi-dono.”

“Takumi, welcome back~”

The siblings, Austin-sama, Felix-sama and Al-sama seemed to be doing well, too.

“Takumi, I have good news regarding the alcohol~”

“Takumi-dono, the magic paper as well.”

It seems that Lionel-sama and the Prime Minister had reports on alcohol and magic paper, respectively. Does “good news” report mean that they were successfully manufactured?

“This is our first time meeting. My name is Richard Ford. Best regards, Takumi-dono.”

“... Ford-sama?”

“That’s right. Please call me Richard.”

As I looked at the faces of the members in turn, my eyes met those of the man I had never met before. He then immediately gave me his name, which was the same family name as that of the Prime Minister... Is he the son of the Prime Minister? I wondered.

I involuntarily compared the Prime Minister to Richard-sama.

The Prime Minister’s hair was blonde with a hint of gray, while Richard’s hair was light blonde. Their faces were not too similar... I feel?

“You won’t find us alike even if you compare us like that.”

“That’s right. I wouldn’t say that there is no blood relation at all in the family, but Richard is my son-in-law.”

“Eh, son-in-law?”

“We only have a daughter, you see.”

It seems that the Prime Minister and Richard-sama were in-laws.

Perhaps because I was tilting my head, he took the trouble to explain.

“By the way, he’s also my little brother.”

“Hah!? Tristan-sama’s little brother!?”

Tristan-sama added to the information that was just given me, and I could not help but be surprised.

If he is Tristan-sama’s brother, does that mean that Richard-sama is his royal brother? No, he’s his “former” royal brother, since he got married.

“Oh, you managed to surprise Takumi~”

“Truly. I’m glad to hear that, because we are usually the ones who get surprised.”

Tristan-sama and Austin-sama were delighted by my surprised face.

“I would have never thought that~ but now that you said that, you do look alike. I never thought to ask about Tristan-sama’s siblings, so I did not realize! By the way, do you have any other siblings?”

“I do have a little sister, but she married off to Gretia.”

“Ah, so you do.”

Hah~ that’s right~ it wouldn’t be strange for Tristan-sama to have siblings, yet I never thought about it!

“”Oniichan, souvenirs~””

“Yesyes. Here you go.”

“”Yay~ will hand over~””

While I was disappointed in myself, Allen and Elena came over to me.

Apparently, they wanted to give the souvenirs to Grace-sama and her family. So I gave them the Leychii fruits and dyes that I had prepared in a basket in advance.

“What, souvenirs? You didn’t have to—”

“Oh my goodness!?”

Tristan-sama’s words are interrupted by Grace-samas surprised voice from the other side.

I glanced at Grace-sama and saw Allen and Elena trying their best to explain the situation, so I guess I can leave the rest to them.

“... Takumi, what the hell did you bring us?”

Al-sama looked at me with a disturbed look on his face. No, everyone here, except Richard-sama, was staring at me.

I explained my side of the story.

“It’s just fruits and dyes.”

“How could our Mother be so ssurprised with just some fruits and dyes?”

“The fruits is just Leychii fruit. As for the dyes, well... there’s many.”

I also added the polka-dot dye, which must have been what surprised Grace-sama.

“Richard-sama, could you tell me the color of your wife’s hair and eyes?”

“I don’t mind. My wife has a light brown hair, and light green eyes.”

“Brown and green, I see... then, Richard-sama, here’s a token of getting to know each other.”

Since our souvenirs were for the “royal family”, I took out a new dye from my Infinite Storage to give to Richard-sama as well, something that would go well with the brown hair and green eyes of his wife, with polka dots of course. It would be faster to show them than to explain, after all!

(Hah!?)

Then, everyone was surprised to see the polka-dot dye, and their gazes were glued to the dye.

“I got these dyes in Serdik’s Dungeon of Colors. Please use it.”

“Nono, Takumi, this is not something you can just take out of your pocket, right!?”

Al-sama was quick to interject, as if he had developed resistance to the things we do after exploring a dungeon with us.

“It seems a bit unusual~”

“You can’t just say it’s a bit unusual! This is my first time seeing something like this!”

“Well, there don’t seem to be many of them around.”

“Takumi, it’s not just ‘many’ but ‘none at all’, no?”

“Well, I wonder about that? I’m not quite sure as I haven’t checked the whole market, but I don’t think they are the first of their kind.”

Felix-sama and Austin-sama joined the interjection.

The tailor, who handles our outfits—Marie-san, said she had never seen them before, but now that I have released them, they are not “completely” elusive. But that’s just the beginning.

“... Ah, I concede. I had heard the story from my brother and father-in-law, but I thought it was somewhat exaggerated. However, I now see it was all true.”

“Richard, I told you that Takumi is an outrageous fellow.”

“Uncle, even if you say that Takumi defies common sense, it won’t be an exaggeration.”

“That appears to be the case. I can understand that after conversing with him for a little.”

I have a feeling that Tristan-sama and the others were blowing things out of proportion for Richard-sama.

“Saying that I defy common sense is rude~ The Dungeon of Colors is an advanced dungeon, and we got these kinds of dyes on its upper levels. It’s normal, simply normal.”

(No, you are definitely lying.)

This time, they all interjected at once. How cruel~

“It can’t be helped. Since you all like saying how I defy common sense so much, I will have to oblige and keep doing my best from now on.”

(Eh!?)

I said half-jokingly, and everyone froze with stunned expressions on their faces.

Was I able to return the favor?