The Water Magician

“Thank you all very much,”

Prince Willy said as he bowed his head.

Behind him, Lord Rodrigo also lowered his head.

“No, no, I'm just glad you arrived safely.”

“We only fulfilled our request. Your Highness, please raise your head.”

Korn replied shyly, while Ryo responded a bit flustered.

The location was in front of the royal palace of the Naitorei Kingdom.

The volunteers from the Royal Magic Guild, who had offered to provide escort, had already disbanded and left for inside the palace.

Matthew and Ruka also thanked the four and left for the Ministry of Finance with capable-looking escorts that appeared from nowhere.

In the end, the escort adventurers, including Ryo, were receiving farewell greetings from Prince Willy and Lord Rodrigo.

“Ryo-san, I have one last request!”

“Your Highness, what has prompted this formality?”

Prince Willy, determined to make a request to Ryo, was met with Ryo's lighthearted curiosity.

“From now on, may I call you 'master'?”

“Sorry, but I would prefer you refrain from that…”

“I see… then I shall use 'teacher' instead.”

“Eh…”

Prince Willy compromised with a hint of disappointment, settling on 'teacher.'

Yes, he compromised... though Ryo felt that there was no compromise at all in his eyes.

And then the two entered the royal castle to report their arrival.

“Well then, I think we’ll head to the adventurers' guild. What about you, Ryo?”

The remaining adventurers led by Ryo and Korn decided to go to the adventurers' guild. They would be disbanding this temporary party there.

As it was Ryo's first time in the royal capital, he didn’t have any particular place he urgently needed to go.

The most he could do was visit the advisor Arthur, who had told him to "drop by later."

Thus, he intended to follow Korn and the others, but then he heard a familiar voice coming from a group walking toward him from the direction of the palace.

“Ryo?”

When Ryo turned around, Sera jumped at him with incredible speed.

“Gah... S-Sera? What are you doing here? And the Run Knight Order members?”

Sera remained silent for a moment, still clinging to Ryo.

Instead, Squad Leader Eden from the knight order answered.

“Um, we were assigned to transport from Run to the royal palace. We just delivered them.”

“Eh... Sera too?”

“Yes, Lady Sera as well... She wasn't initially scheduled to come, but it was a sudden decision...”

“There was no other choice...”

Interrupting Eden, Sera finally spoke up, raising her face.

“Did you not have 'Switchback' Sue deliver a letter? When I opened it, it stated that you would be stopping by the royal capital... Ryo is very precious to someone like me, an elf... how should I put it... yes, a source of nourishment. It would be quite troublesome if you weren't around. I wish you would be more aware of that!”

“Um... I'm sorry about that...”

(What does a source of nourishment mean... I've never heard that before.)

“Hmm, as long as you understand that, it's fine.”

Sera replied with a beaming smile.

The power of that smile transcended everything.

For that smile, Ryo could probably fight the world as his enemy...

But he had to resolve his doubts.

“By the way, what do you mean by a source of nourishment?”

“Hmm? You know, didn't some guardian beast say that too? Being around Ryo extends one's lifespan or something like that?”

“Yes, they did say that...”

“That's exactly it. As I mentioned before, elves are like half-fairies. And that guardian beast is probably also a guardian of the fairy lineage. We refer to it as the 'fairy factor,' but for those who possess it, Ryo is indeed a very valuable source of nourishment. Also, it purifies negative energy... something like that. It has a refreshing effect as well. You should remember this.”

The knight order members listening nearby nodded in awe.

“Um... does it have any effect on humans...?”

“No, not at all.”

Sera gave a blunt answer to Ryo's question.

“Um... does it have any effect on me...?”