A few days after the coup had ended.
"You were the key figure in this coup's success, Alan."
In an informal setting, Yalut, Round, Harold, and Alan had gathered.
"Moreover, I was able to avenge my father. You have my gratitude."
"Don't mention it."
Marquis Yalut bowed his head to me.
"I will never forget that you rescued my daughter, Catalina. As for her former husband Legas, that scum was captured right after and reduced to slavery."
That was Marquis Round speaking.
Quick work, that.
Apparently, he'd been sent to the underground correctional facility.
Scary.
"So, Alan, is there anything you'd like?"
Lord Harold asks me, but...
"Please handle the post-war cleanup smoothly without putting me in the spotlight."
"I thought you might say something like that, but that really won't do... the debt is far too great. You were a noble yourself, so you should understand—an unbalanced relationship never lasts."
Lord Harold made a troubled face.
Both Marquis Yalut and Marquis Round smiled wryly.
"I've got it—there *is* something I want."
◇◇◇
Having been released from the informal meeting with the bigwigs, I made my way to Sharl's hideout.
"Looks like it's over, huh."
"Yeah."
"So, my collar's disappeared. Does that mean I'm getting disposed of?"
"Huh?"
Now that he mentioned it, the transparent collar he was supposed to be wearing was gone.
I didn't remember releasing it...
Oh—the collar had disappeared because he'd been within the range of the reversed *Tyrant Rave*.
No joke, before the reversal, it really had the power to annihilate even an army of ten thousand.
Anyway, reattaching it would be a pain, so whatever.
Besides, I owed him an apology.
"It's not like I removed the collar to give you false hope before disposing of you now that you're no longer useful. Anyway, Sharl—"
"Don't say such scary things. So, what is it?"
"Here."
I pulled a hand-crank coffee maker magical tool from my spatial storage.
It was from the royal castle.
Apparently it was roughly as valuable as the magical tool that had been completely destroyed without a trace thanks to the *King's Shadow*'s irritating self-destruction.
This was what I'd requested from Lord Harold and the others as my reward for the successful coup.
"...This is a masterpiece by a master craftsman that was supposed to have been presented to the royal family!"
"Seems like it. It's yours."
"............Are you sure?"
He hesitated quite a bit, but a rare magical tool was apparently something he couldn't turn down.
"Well, I can't really use it properly. And I feel bad about completely trashing both the café out front and the underground dark guild."
"...So you *can* apologize."
"Isn't that harsh?"
I'd already said I'd give it to him, so I wasn't going to ask for it back, but still.
◇◇◇
Reform swept through the country in rapid succession.
The Temple of the True King was, of course, scrapped mid-construction.
Marquis Garm and others who had been close to the True King were all stripped of their ranks.
Politics is scary.
In that sense, adventurers who have nothing to lose are, in a way, the ultimate untouchables—though they do constantly risk their lives.
Also, taxes were restored to their original levels.
The plan to invade the Raising Kingdom was scrapped, since it hadn't been publicly announced to the populace yet.
The Prince-Electors were being expanded to ten, from which the king would be selected.
With ten people, even if a few got assassinated, something like this shouldn't happen again.
If you're going to do it, why not bump it up to a hundred?
Well, not that it matters.
For now, the next king is Lord Yalut.
◇◇◇
"Why are those people frozen in ice?"
An innocent child asked their mother.
"Well, when you do bad things, you get frozen in ice. It's freezing cold, you can't move, you can't eat, and you can't play. So let's be good, okay?"
"Okaaay."
In the prayer hall of the great cathedral in the town of Forsthrough, three humans frozen in ice stood in a row.
Furthermore, the master of the assassination guild *Pandemonium* had made it a point to always use these three as an example when teaching that there are certain people in this world you absolutely must never cross.
◇◇◇
"Mr. Farmus, we're here again! This time with Sofia and Zeke."
"Oh, you've come, Alan. Tell me more about the outside world."
And so, along with Sofia and Zeke, I paid a visit to Mr. Farmus's [House Territory].
With light novels, games, and hot springs, it had everything one could want, so I figured I'd stay here for a while.
And once I got tired of that, maybe I'd head to another country.
◇◇◇◇◇◇
End of Part Two.