After 13 days of travel, we finally arrived at Elarion, the capital of the Belfort Kingdom. It was much larger than Aravel, the previous city I had visited. But then again, it is the capital of a kingdom—it was bound to be big.
As we entered the city, Celestine turned to me."Ryo, could you accompany us to the palace?"
"Wait a minute… the palace? Why?"
"What do you mean why? You saved Her Highness, the Princess. Of course, the king will want to meet you. So just follow us."
Honestly, I didn't want to meet any king. But what choice did I have? The quest wouldn't be completed unless I got the official stamp."…Alright, I'll go."
This time, I walked alongside the carriage. It's not like I could keep riding on the roof all the way to the palace.
After a while, we reached the palace gates. I had seen more majestic places in my past lives—some of which I had ruled—but still, this palace was impressive. It looked to be over 500 years old, maybe more.
They guided me to a guest room. On the way, I ran into someone I didn't expect to see here of all places.
It was Saito.
He approached me with a smile."Yo, Ryo. So you've finally arrived at the capital. Sorry—I may have forgotten to give you my address. I was planning to come get you after a few days."
We chatted as we walked together. It seemed we were heading to the same place—he, too, was called to the guest room.
While waiting, I explained my current situation and asked him about the king.
"The king? He's not someone you need to be afraid of," Saito said. "He's a chill guy. Doesn't act like a typical king, and definitely not like the nobles. He cares about the kingdom and its people. You'll see."
As we talked, a maid entered and served us tea. I asked, "By the way, what's your current adventurer rank?"
"I'm at Yellow," he replied. "I haven't taken many quests lately due to… some matters."
"Hey, can you help me with something?" he suddenly asked.
"I guess I can. What is it?"
Just then, the doors opened. Saito stood up and gestured for me to do the same. A group of seven people entered. I immediately recognized two of them—Court Mage Celestine and Princess Seyra.
The man who entered first asked us to sit. He looked to be in his thirties. Beside Princess Seyra stood another girl—likely her sister. They both had blue eyes, similar to the man seated at the center, who was most likely the king. Next to him sat a beautiful woman with silver hair and bluish-purple eyes—the queen.
Saito had told me that the current queen wasn't first princess biological mother, but she had raised her like her own. The first princess was Yuri Belfort, and Seyra was the second.
They all introduced themselves. The king was Arthur Belfort, the queen was Yuria Belfort, the knight captain was Arwin, and the prime minister was Jeff.
"I thank you for saving my daughter," the king said, bowing slightly.
I quickly stood up. "Please, Your Majesty, you don't need to bow. I only did what anyone would have done."
The king sat down and then asked, "Do you two know each other?"
Saito answered, "Yes. We're brothers."
Everyone exchanged surprised glances.
Celestine then looked at us and said, "You both can use storage magic?"
Saito answered on my behalf, "Yeah. We both have the same magical affinities."
Celestine blinked. "That's incredible. It's rare enough for someone to have more than one affinity. But to have all affinities, including the ability to use every non-elemental magic… that's unheard of. And your mana capacity—both of you—it's beyond exceptional."
I shrugged. "I guess… you could say that."
After a while, the king spoke again."So… Ryo, was it?"
"Yes. Takashi Ryo. Ryo is my given name."
"Are you truly not of noble or royal blood?"
"No, we're not."
The prime minister spoke next, "Then, Your Majesty, we must do it."
I was puzzled. Do what exactly?
Before I could ask, Prime Minister Jeff placed a small ornate box in front of me."This is your reward for saving the princess."
I opened it and saw it was filled with platinum coins.
"I can't accept this," I said. "I already accepted the quest to escort you, and I'll receive a reward from the guild."
The king replied, "This is not for the quest. This is a personal gift—for saving my daughter. And you will accept it."
After some more time, the prime minister brought out a map. It only had the names of major countries—it wasn't very detailed.
The king turned to Saito."This forested region here—the Netherlands—it doesn't belong to any nation. You can build your own nation there… though the area is surrounded by monsters."
I looked at Saito, confused."What's going on?"
That's when I learned the truth.
Saito was engaged to Princess Yuri, the First Princess. But because he was a commoner, he had to possess a title of equal standing to marry her. Granting him a title within Belfort would cause political unrest among the nobles. So the alternative was… founding a new nation.
After the discussions ended, we left the palace.
As we walked, Saito looked at me and said, "That help I mentioned earlier… this is it. Building a nation."
He continued, "You're from Earth. You've lived multiple lives. You have knowledge from different worlds. I thought… maybe you could help me."
Princess Yuri was with us, along with a few guards. Saito teleported us to the place where he was currently staying.
We arrived in front of a mansion.