The next day Lasse was summoned to the palace.
　The reason for this is to hear about last night's dragon fighting.
　No matter how much Lasse is a freelancer who left the Order, no matter how far outside the royal capital, if a dragon fights near the outer walls of the royal capital, the king's home, he can't leave it alone.

(But the place of explanation is the royal palace.)

　Normally, when there is trouble, the interviews are held at the guard station.
But if it's too much for the guards to handle, the Order will be in charge.
This is something that Lasse, to which the order belongs, understands well.

(To begin with, there's no way for the Order to interview you.

　These mechanisms are rules that are based on assumptions.
　It was only decided in case a possible case occurred.
　At least there was no incident during Lasse's time with the Order where the Order interviewed him.

(I didn't think I'd be the first one to do so: ...... or, better yet, the royal palace.

　Lasse is led by a knight who guides him through the palace.
　Since he is called out from the palace, his squires are not allowed to move.
　However, Kuro Dog lurks in his shadow, and his demons from the shadows are guarding Lasse.

This way.

　The knight stops and asks Lasse to come inside.

This is ......!"?

　Lasse is understandably surprised when he is brought to the audience room.
　It's a room that is reserved for meeting with the king.

(And I thought it was ministerial level, but to hear the king personally, that's pretty important.

　As expected of Lasse, he was surprised by this.
　Although Lasse's squires are indeed excellent, it still takes some time to gather information.
　Lasse didn't expect to be called to the palace suddenly after yesterday.

(Or, should I have guessed when the call from the knights did not come in the evening?

　Lasse walked into the audience room at will.

　.

"Rise = Enter Tamer!

　A knight raises his voice to announce the entrance of Lasse.
　In front of the Rise is a crimson carpet, with knights on either side of it.
　And at the far end is a wide flight of stairs for each man, lined with ministers.
　The top of the stairs is hidden by a veil that descends from the ceiling.

Ah, Commander Frieda. And the former Commander Mardo.

　If you look, you'll see the two of them in the company of the ministers.
　Commander Frieda glares at Lasse evasively and former General Maldo can't seem to contain his smile.

　Lasse walks down the red-carpeted path to the front row of the Knights on either side of him and kneels with his head hanging down.
　It is impolite for a vassal to see his lord's face up close.

"His Majesty's darling

　You hear the sound of a knight's voice and the scraping of a robe.

"Lift your head.

　With the permission of a familiar voice, Lasse looked up and saw the veil at the top of the stairs opened to reveal a mature man sitting on a throne.

'Good to see you, Lasse-Tamer. Long time since your reception?

　But Lasse will not answer. It is impolite to speak to the king without permission.

I want to hear your voice. Answer me.

"Ha! Long time no see, Your Majesty,

"Mm, it's good to see you in good health.

　The king smiles a fond smile.

"So, about this call: ......

　After the greeting, the king turns to face the ruler and gets down to business.

"I want to know the whole story of how you got the dragons to fight. Answer me.

"⁉

　I can clearly see Commander Frieda shivering in Lasse's eyes.

(Oh, I'm sure he would have asked me if I was related to the emergency lines in the capital.

　But even General Frida cannot make excuses for the king.
　It is impolite to speak without the king's permission.

(Was it a ploy by the former general Maldo to get the king involved?　(Or is it anti-Frieda Generalist?)

　Lasse has an idea of who drew the drawing, but he decides to tell the king what happened, deciding that his own safety is the first priority now.

　.

"That's why ......

　When Lasse finished explaining, the king stroked his beard with a hand to his chin and silently pondered, "The item that sealed the power of the demon, the bandit disguised as a holy knight, and the armor with demonic power?

"An item containing the power of the devil, a bandit disguised as a holy knight, and an armor containing the power of the devil. ......

　The king's eyebrows lifted faintly.

"That doesn't sound like the bandit you captured, Mard.

"Ha, I see.

　Gen. Maldo, who does not have permission to speak, answers the king, but this does not amount to disrespect.
　The ministers standing at the foot of the throne steps are given permission to speak back to the king without his permission.
　This is because the ministers of state cannot convey important information to the king if they cannot speak without the king's permission to do so.

"The perpetrator of the theft captured by Lasse-Tamer, the person who was charged with sheltering the spy, and the surviving spy with the demon power weapon. I would agree with them.

"Mm.

Lasse had handed over a captured bandit to former general Maldo.
It's because it's dangerous to hand over the spies to the Order if the real culprit behind the scenes is unknown.
Furthermore, since the current leader of the Order is Commander Frieda, I didn't know what he would do because he hates Lasse.

you have no choice but to use your dragon's power. We should be thankful that no one died. The Church thanks you for saving the knights.



"Your Majesty, that's not all.

"Mm, what's more?

　At this point, Lasse feels uncomfortable with the conversation of the kings.

(What's going on?)

It turned out that the spies captured by Lasse-Tamer had recently been kidnapped by these people as test subjects for their demonic experiments.

"My God!　Is it true!

Yes, sir. Unfortunately, the victims were too late, but the number of those who did not die is not small. Some of them are children of the nobility.

That's good news. Parents must be happy to have their children back.

"Not at all, sir.

　Words that come out of the mouths of people as if they were watching a play.

(No doubt, this is a prearranged conversation.)

　Lasse guesses that something has been discussed between the king and former general Maldo.
　The blackened face of Commander Frieda proves it.
　I can see that something really unpleasant was going on behind the scenes.

"We must reward Lasse-Tamer for saving the people of King's Landing and destroying the world's enemy, the demon messenger.

"But Lasse-Tamer already has a knighthood. I'm not sure I can give him any more knighthoods since he's run away from the Order.

"You're right.

(You don't mean to tell me you're going to put me back in the Order and give me a new title?

　Unable to read the kings' thoughts, a trepidatious Lassee shudders.

(Is it any wonder Ketsey and the others didn't get the information? The interviews are a myth. This interview is a formality.

Moreover, the dragon carriage started by Lasse-Tamer has become an important transportation network in our country. It's time to bring it back to the Order.

(Huh?)

　Lasse, who thought he was going to be returned to the Order in the name of the king, was let off the hook.

Dragon carriage. I hear it will transport people and goods not only to our country, but also to faraway lands in a matter of days.

"Yes, if other countries have already benefited from it.

　Unaware of his lack of political knowledge, Lasse was unaware that the dragon carriage he started was having a profound effect on the nations beyond his expectations.
　Originally, the country wanted Lasse back in the Order because they wanted to take back the deterrent of dragons.
　But with Lasse's dragon carriage flying freely across the country at will, the surrounding nations could no longer turn their forces against the Kingdom of Tendo.
　If the dragon carriage has no fixed route and you don't know where and when it will appear, the worst thing that could happen is that the dragons will attack you if they find out that you have an army in motion.
　The dragon carriage has unknowingly become a deterrent for the kingdom of Tendo.
　Some countries even mistakenly believe that Lasse is connected to the kingdom of Tendo behind the scenes.

　And as Gen. Maldo said, the dragon carriages were simply a boon to other nations in terms of transportation power.
　Being able to carry so many people and goods safely and quickly without worrying about the terrain and demons was a big deal.
　The benefits of the dragon carriage were innumerable, from containing epidemics before they spread, to resolving problems between nations quickly.

　Since such a dragon carriage is doing business within the kingdom of Tendo, forcing Lasse to return to the Order was currently a negative thing.
　Although this Lasse doesn't realize such a thing.

Then I promise to grant Lasse-Tamer's dragon chariot a state license and waive the payment of taxes.

Oh, that's a good idea!

(seriously?)

　Lasse almost screamed inwardly.
　Taxes in the kingdom of Tendo are calculated by subtracting expenses from income.
　But the problem was that the demons working at Lasse's Monster's Delivery were mostly fed by grass and meat from the demons caught in the Great Demon Forest, so they didn't have much in the way of expenses other than the cost of maintaining the office.
　No expenses meant a larger tax bill.
　But the king has declared that the entire profit from the dragon carriage will belong to Lasse.
　With most of his income coming from the carriage, the amount of taxes to be paid back is not small.
　This was a reward that Lasse would welcome with open arms.
　However, the country won't be bothered by the loss of taxes since they won't have to pay for the upkeep of Lasse's messenger.


Mm, that's settled!

　Lasse was sentenced to leave the room after the hearing was over.
　And that's when he was about to leave.

"Lasse-Tamer, I hear you left the Order and you've done an excellent job. I give you credit.

　Lasse, who was not allowed to answer without permission, turned around and bailed to the king with a small smile.