Published: September 10, 2025
Corrected typos on 2016/1/3.
This is Satou. Tidying up afterwards is surprisingly troublesome, isn’t it? Looking back, the reason I stopped cooking for myself when I lived alone was because cleaning up after cooking was such a hassle.
◇
“Sir Satou Pendragon, in recognition of your meritorious service, I hereby award you the Kiwalk Azure Ice Lake Medal.”
“I humbly accept.”
There was also talk of granting me an honorary marquisate of the Kiwalk Kingdom as a reward.
According to Princess Sistina, it’s common for nobles of the Shiga Kingdom to receive noble titles from other countries, but since there was no real benefit to accepting such titles, I declined.
As a secondary prize, I was even proposed marriage alliances with Princess Light Snow and her sisters, but I politely refused those as well.
Princess Light Snow politely insisted on accompanying me as a retainer, but since the "winter" of this country was coming to an end, her strength was needed to protect her homeland, so I persuaded her to stay behind.
Also, I was reprimanded by the Queen and Princess Sistina for unilaterally forcing combat with the demon race. Since it was my own fault, no one covered for me.
On the bright side, thanks to this incident, Sera and Princess Sistina gained access to the Royal Castle’s library archives, so I plan to read a lot while staying here.
As for the Ice Stones promised to General Winter, I have received them properly.
Though the amount was larger than expected, it was no problem transporting them to the Isolated Island Palace via the airship’s corridors.
The organization of the garage was a bit off, but anyone suspicious can just assume I carried a high-performance magical artifact—a “magic bag.”
“Lord Pendragon, we thank you for your efforts.”
“I hardly did anything; it’s thanks to my companions.”
“If you hadn’t been here, neither Her Highness the Princess nor my fiancée in the White Lily Squad would have come through unscathed.”
After the conversation with General Winter, the intelligent blonde woman with short hair standing by his side bowed respectfully and thanked me in a dignified voice.
I believe she was one of the girls operating the cannons in the rear.
While the multi-day party held at the Royal Castle was entrusted to the Satou doll partnered with Sera, I swapped places with Princess Sistina and Lady K, the princess’s guard, to scour the Kiwalk Royal Castle library with Hikaru.
By the way, I showed Lady K, also known as Miss Karina, a video edited like a traffic accident recording, highlighting how reckless the last catapult launch was, to warn her.
Pochi and Tama, who watched alongside, were trembling, so I think from now on she’ll take better care of herself.
Currently, Pochi and Tama are conducting practical tests of the catapult launch equipment in the desert area.
Now, back to the library.
The collection wasn’t very large, but local history materials describing old, forgotten festivals and unique regional culture were quite interesting.
“There are many rare incantations for ice and fire magic, but they’re mostly similar to those in the Shiga Kingdom’s records.”
“Lord Satou, Lord King Ancestor, please look at these materials related to magical artifacts.”
“Is that the language of the weasel tribe?”
“There’s a translation of eastern countries’ languages here.”
The princess discovered a brief schematic and operation manual for the magical device we captured in the recent demon race battle. I copied the contents.
Other than that, no major discoveries were made, and the investigation concluded.
There were no suspicious ancient documents like I had hoped for.
Incidentally, before departure, Princess Light Snow tried to stow away secretly, but the security golems bundled her up and handed her over to the Royal Castle guards.
General Winter had hinted that she might resort to force, so uncovering her plan to hide among the Ice Stone containers was easy.
Including that minor trouble, after settling all matters, we departed from the Royal Capital, seeing off the people there.