I made it into the top 10 of the daily rankings.
Thank you so much to everyone who reads my work.
"Tenma, won't you do it?"
It was on a refreshing morning, during breakfast surrounded by a large group of people, when the King's sudden remark brought everything to a standstill.
Then, I stood up from my chair, making sure not to turn my back on the King,
"No, I'm not interested in male-male relations, so..."
As I took a step backward, time began to flow again starting from my answer.
Mom rushed over and hugged me, trying to shield me from the King's gaze.
Dad stepped in front of me, raised his bow, and drew the string taut.
Grandpa was muttering, "He never used to be that kind of person..."
Around the King, Kurif was saying,
"Your Majesty, even if you've taken a liking to him, perhaps inviting him into male-male relations is going too far... I must report this to Lady Maria."
With that,
Chris was staring at the King with a look as if she'd just seen something filthy.
Sigurd looked at him sorrowfully, saying, "Your Majesty..."
Jack was lamenting, "It's not like male-male relations don't exist or anything, but targeting your best friend's son is a bit much..."
Edgar's face was smiling, but his eyes weren't.
Incidentally, the male guards were keeping their distance from the King while protecting their backsides.
"W-Wait! I just didn't use enough words, that's all! Ricardo, take your hand off that arrow! And Kurif, don't you dare tell Maria—"
Report
"...or anything like that! Stop it! Please!"
The King hurried to explain and clear up the misunderstanding. Everyone seemed to accept it for now, but they kept their distance.
"Ricardo, Celia, it's about 'that thing' I mentioned yesterday."
"Oh, 'that thing.' Don't be so vague about it! I was just about to shoot!"
I noticed that Mother's body reacted slightly when the King said "that thing," but when our eyes met, she didn't say anything, so I decided not to worry about it.
With Father's and the King's words, it seemed that "You're not doing it, are you!" wasn't about that sort of thing after all, so everyone returned to their seats.
Not that all suspicion was completely cleared, mind you!
"Father, what do you mean 'that thing'?"
In response to my question, the King answered on Father's behalf:
"Actually, last night I proposed to Ricardo and the others that Tenma become a bodyguard for my son or grandson. So, what do you think? You're not doing it, are you?"
At these words, the four guards—Kurif aside—were more surprised than I was, but—
"No, I decline."
They were even more surprised that I refused outright.
"Kid, it's tough work, but the pay is great and you'd have more authority than an average lower noble!"
said Jack,
"Being appointed a royal guard from commoner status at age ten would be the fastest in history!"
said Chris,
"If you were appointed as a guard at that age, you could work your way up to higher positions in the future. If that happened, receiving a noble title wouldn't just be a dream!"
Edgar added. Meanwhile, Sigurd appeared to be so shocked that he had frozen solid.
"Could I ask why?"
Perhaps giving an immediate answer had been a mistake, as the King asked me.
I answered honestly,
"I don't find the Royal Guard very appealing. Besides, if I became a Royal Guard, it doesn't seem like I'd be able to see my family easily."
When I said that, my mother's eyes grew moist.
"I see... That's a shame, but it can't be helped. Still, Tenma, if you ever change your mind, come visit anytime. You'll always be welcome!"
That was what he told me.
Even being the son of his best friend, I thought it was an honor that he would say something like that.
"Well then, Celia went to the trouble of preparing breakfast. It's gone cold, but let's eat it anyway. After that, we'll investigate the village and the Great Old Forest. Ricardo, I'll need you to guide us."
"You got it! Leave it to me!"
The King set out the schedule like that. I was about to follow along when—
"Tenma, you'll be staying behind."
My mother dismissed me with a tone that left absolutely no room for argument.
"Celia, I told you being overprotective isn't a good thing,"
Grandpa tried to back me up, but—
"If I let him come along, Lord Alex would probably do something reckless."
"Ah, I see."
With that, everyone besides the King was convinced.
Besides... was it my imagination that "do something reckless" sounded like it had a different meaning?
"A-Anyway, let's get started as soon as we're ready."
With those words, everyone resumed their meals.
To investigate efficiently, those heading into the forest were Father as guide, along with the King, Kurif, Jean, and Sigurd, while those searching the village were Mother as guide, Edgar, and Chris.
——In the Great Old Forest——
"You can't see anything particularly unusual around here."
"We've only been in for about thirty minutes, so there aren't many changes in this area."
In response to Alex and Ricardo, who said that,
"That's right. If there were obvious changes in a place this close to the entrance, it wouldn't just be rumors."
Kurif added,
"But Lord Ricardo. Did something really change that much?"
Jean asked, prefacing it as though he didn't doubt Ricardo's word.
"That's rude, Jean!"
Sigurd chided him, but Ricardo didn't mind and said,
"Over this past year, nine B-class Monsters and two A-class Monsters have appeared. All within a fifty-kilometer radius of the village."
He answered.
"That many?!"
It was no wonder Alex was surprised.
By nature, the Great Old Forest was absolutely crawling with Monsters above B-class. However, those creatures were supposed to inhabit the deep reaches of the forest, requiring two hundred to three hundred kilometers of travel from the entrance before you'd encounter them.
There were various theories, but the most widely accepted one was that the deeper you went into the Great Old Forest, the denser the Magic Power became, the more comfortable it was, and the more prey there was—so venturing out to the shallower areas where food was scarce was simply inefficient.
In fact, until now, the shallow areas within the fifty-kilometer radius had been mostly populated by E- to D-class Monsters, with the occasional C-class being the strongest you'd ever encounter.
Even among Orcs, there had never been any Kings, and herds consisted of only a dozen or so at most.
When it came to B-class, it was questionable whether even one strayed out every few years, and most of those that did quickly found their way back to the depths of the forest.
In fact, Ricardo had lived in Kukuri Village for over thirty years—excluding his time as an adventurer—and outside of this past year, the B-class sightings he knew of could be counted on one hand.
"Thinking about it, that's abnormal. So, what about A-class Monsters?"
"According to Tenma, they seem to have been chased by a pack of Dragon Snakes. And both of them were Fenrir-type."
"What?!"
The King's surprise was only natural.
Fenrir-type was the general term for the most powerful species among wolf-type Monsters, possessing power ranging from A-class to S-class. Even a pack of four or five was said to be nearly impossible to subjugate without gathering at least twenty to thirty elite adventurers.
With two of them, they shouldn't have lost to even eight Dragon Snakes, Alex thought, but—
"It appears—
they were a mated pair—
the female was pregnant, which sapped their strength. They were ambushed while weakened. After Tenma defeated the Dragon Snakes, both of them died, but the female apparently managed to give birth before succumbing."
He figured that being heavily pregnant probably explained it.
"Is that so... What about the Fenrir pup?"
In response to Alex's question,
"You all already saw it, right? The one Tenma's been raising."
When he said that,
"You mean the Shiromaru that Chris was looking after?!"
He was taken aback.
Truth be told, Chris adored dogs and cats, but as a member of the King's personal guard, he had no time to care for one and couldn't keep a pet of his own.
Setting that aside, for a Fenrir—even a young one—to be so tame around people was an exceedingly rare thing.
While they continued their investigation while discussing such matters, they eventually had to return to the village as there were no results, so they called off the search.
— At Tenma and the Others' Home —
The King and his party, upon returning home, began exchanging information with Edgar and the others who had returned earlier.
"As we thought, it seems that sudden changes have occurred in the village over the last few years."
"Please elaborate."
The King listened intently to Edgar's report.
"Yes, sir. It appears that the number of people infected with the illness has increased in recent years. Alongside that, sightings of Monsters near the village have also risen."
Chris took over from those words,
"Regarding the illness, I spoke with those involved in medical care in the village. They said that compared to ten years ago, cases have increased two to threefold over the past four to five years. As for the Monsters, they are things like Goblins and Slimes, and it seems some have even been seen right near the village."
He reported.
In response to that report, Jean asked,
"But Chris, isn't there no connection between those two things?"
However, Chris and the others replied,
"At first, we thought the same thing. However, the majority of those who fell ill were people who frequently entered the forest, or those who had previously slain Monsters they encountered. In other words, most were individuals who had many opportunities to come into contact with Monsters in some form."
"Furthermore, while the illness was more prevalent among men, that might simply be because, as Chris said, they have more opportunities to do so."
They reported.
"If that's the case, the likelihood of anomalies occurring in the Great Old Forest has certainly increased... We shall inform Viscount Haus about this, coordinate with the central authorities, and conduct an investigation to devise countermeasures. Everyone, thank you for your hard work. Ricardo and Celia, I also appreciate your cooperation."
"Don't worry about it. This concerns us as well."
"Yes, Lord Alex, he is absolutely right. It's only natural to act for the sake of our own village."
They shared a laugh.
The illness itself isn't much of a concern at the moment, but the fact remains that more people in the village have been complaining of feeling unwell. Let's hope it doesn't get worse.
And with that, the report meeting came to an end, and everyone was dismissed for the day.
They were apparently planning to depart for the Royal Capital before noon tomorrow. Along the way, they'd stop by a town to regroup with the others who had been sent ahead (forced to go, really).
I couldn't help but feel sorry for those people being dragged around by the King, and I was glad I'd turned down the offer to join the royal guards.
Thanks to that, the bookmark count has been climbing rapidly and is approaching 1,000 (it may have already surpassed that by the time this is published, though).
I've been fixing typos and grammatical errors here and there, so thank you for reporting them.
As for the King's inspection party, there are actually several dozen people, but the King determined that they couldn't all be brought to such a small village,
judgment
and so they visited Kukuri Village in disguise as a small group. (That's why they ended up being attacked by the orc pack.)
Incidentally, the royal guard captain Din, whose name came up earlier, stayed behind in the Royal Capital to lead the remaining guards and keep a watchful eye for any trouble.
The one leading the escort guards is the deputy captain, Jean.
Turns out he was the deputy captain all along.
The noble ranks in this world are: King, Grand Duke, Duke, Marquis, Earl, Viscount, Baron, and Knight Baron. The Earl, Viscount, Baron, and Knight Baron ranks have Honorary variants, while the Viscount, Baron, and Knight Baron ranks have Vice variants as well.
The Grand Duke and Honorary ranks are limited to a single lifetime, and holders of Honorary ranks cannot hold territory.
A Border Earl holds the same rank as a Marquis but has more influence than an ordinary Marquis.
Below the Knight Baron, there is also a Knight Peerage rank, which is granted upon becoming a knight and doesn't carry much political power.
That's the setting I'm planning to work with, though it's possible things may change going forward.
Thank you for your continued readership!