There were plenty of other instances, too—like defeating the Earth Dragon, using the payment for the Golem sold to the royal family, conquering Seigen's dungeon and discovering another one beneath it. Just counting them would use up all the fingers on both hands. Thinking about it, it might actually be stranger that I *hadn't* become a noble by now. But regardless, the discussion about whether or not to become one was moot at this point.
"Yes, I understand that... but if Tenma were to refuse the offer, it would cause quite a bit of trouble for the royal family..."
The "trouble" she referred to was that the act of the royal family directly granting a peerage to a commoner was supposed to be an honor beyond compare—one that, under normal circumstances, absolutely could not be refused. Apparently, refusing such an offer would be a massive blow to the pride of the royal family. The Ootori family had been turning down the offer for three generations now, starting with my grandfather, and they had always promoted the idea that we valued a close relationship with the royal family over holding a noble title. But this time, it seemed things wouldn't be so simple.
Up until now, the Ootori family's achievements had largely been personal ones or those made during our adventurer activities. This time, however, we had earned our reward in an event of such staggering, existential scale for the kingdom. If the royal family didn't give me the highest honor they could, they would also have to lower the rewards for everyone who had aided me under my command. That, in turn, could reignite a new kind of conflict just as the war was finally showing signs of ending.
Furthermore, while a noble title might seem insignificant to me, there were those for whom receiving such an honor would be their greatest joy—or rather, that was simply the common sense of the world. Some would even perceive my refusal as a direct insult to their own standing.
Even if such people did emerge, the Ootori family could potentially lie low, but the royal family couldn't. If the conflict continued, those without power would be the first to suffer.
Therefore, the royal family believed that the Ootori family accepting the peerage was the fastest and most certain way to avoid all this. For now, at least, this seemed to be Tida's personal opinion on the matter.
"Just to ask, if I were to accept the reward, what rank of nobility would I receive?"
"At the current stage, I believe they would grant you the title of Count. However, a Count's rank is far below what your past and current achievements warrant, so a higher title... either a Margrave or a Marquess, I imagine. But a title of Margrave or higher would require granting you a fiefdom, and a Marquess... considering your lineage..."
As the title implied, even if granted a fiefdom as a Margrave, it would likely be in a remote border region far from the capital. And a Marquess, as the third-highest rank of nobility (excluding a Duke), was a major noble title. Though Tida seemed hesitant to say it, the matter of my actual bloodline was extremely important. As the adopted son of my parents, who were former nobles, I might barely qualify for a Countship (and perhaps a Margravate, given the emphasis on military strength in border regions). But my parents' birth families were of low-ranking nobility at best, and as for my own origins, they were completely unknown—which meant a Marquess title would be dismissed immediately.
"If Tenma were single, you could perhaps enter into adoption by a great-uncle or similar arrangement and formally betroth yourself to Luna, which would make a Marquess title possible... I apologize, I merely mentioned that such a method exists. I have absolutely no other intentions."
If I did that, it would essentially mean divorcing Primera, even if only in name. I must have been staring daggers at her without realizing it. Well, in practice, it wasn't a method I *couldn't* employ, but it would undoubtedly draw strong opposition from a large number of nobles.
"Therefore, if you accept, I believe the options are: receive a Countship immediately; be granted a Margravate with a fiefdom; or be temporarily granted a Countship with a future promise to elevate your child, born today, to either a Margravate or a Marquessate."
Hmm, it sounded incredibly troublesome. No matter which option was chosen, there was a high probability of complications, and it wasn't something I, as an individual, had the right to decide right here.
"Tida, I'm sorry, but the decision about accepting a reward isn't one I can make alone. Could I have some time to discuss it with my family?"
"That is perfectly natural. I have no intention of demanding an immediate answer here. However, it would help us greatly if you could give an answer as soon as possible. Let me see... I believe that once my grandfather, Duke Dalam... confirms the capture or subjugation of Dalam, the leader of the rebel army, he will declare the kingdom's victory. Preparations for the distribution of rewards will then begin. Even if we drag it out, the ceremony will likely take place within a week of the victory declaration."
The deadline depended on Dalam, who might already be captured or killed by the Southern Viscount's army for all we knew. And it was unclear if we could actually stretch the discussion period for a full week. That meant we had less time to talk than I thought, which was worrying, especially with Primera's condition still a concern.
"In any case, I'll try to give you an answer quickly, so please let the King and the others know. Also, try to join the discussion yourself if you can."
"Huh?"
"Then the fact that the King sent Tida to me means she's the point of contact for negotiations with the Ootori family, right? There are also detailed conditions regarding the reward to work out, and if we don't have Tida—our point of contact—participate in the Ootori family discussions, there could be misunderstandings between the Royal Family and the Ootori family, which would be a huge problem."
For Tida, things would probably get busy on her end too now that the end of the war was in sight, but that was a separate matter—if we didn't have her join our discussions, there was a high likelihood we'd end up deciding things beyond what we were authorized to decide on our own.
"I know it's a lot to ask, but I'm counting on you! In all sorts of ways…"
When I said that with a smile, Tida once again slumped face-down onto the table. She'd probably just realized that the King or Caesar-sama had saddled her with the most troublesome task of all—negotiating with the Ootori family.
After staying face-down on the table for a little while, Tida said she needed to head back to the royal castle. I asked if she wanted to see the kids before she went, and she answered eagerly, "I want to see them!"
So we went to the room where Primera and the children were. After getting permission from Primera and the midwife, I led Tida inside. Right at the moment the two of us entered, the twins—who had been sleeping—woke up and started stirring. They didn't cry, though; they were perfectly calm. Seeing this, the midwife judged it was fine to hold them, and Tida ended up getting to hold our children before even Maria-sama did.
When I teased her about whether Maria-sama or the King might have something to say about that,
"I'll just tell them that since they pushed all the troublesome work onto me, the good fortune that fled from them came my way instead,"
she answered proudly.
Now, Tida's coming on the day the children were born had been a coincidence. Her original purpose was to meet with me after I returned to the Royal Capital. If someone other than Tida had come in her place—say, if Maria-sama had come instead, or if Tida had come along in the capacity of an escort—then Maria-sama would have undoubtedly been the first member of the royal family to hold the twins. In that sense, you could say that Tida missing out on the timing allowed her luck to flow from Maria-sama to her.
After seeing off the carriage carrying Tida back to the royal castle, I called together Grandpa and the other Ootori family associates to discuss the matter of our reward… and they showed up in far greater numbers than I'd expected. So I ended up having the discussion with the usual mansion residents (though Primera sat out, being right after childbirth), plus Uncle Mark, Kelly, and Dinn and Aina, and on top of that, Hana, who had insisted on tagging along by declaring herself Amour's guardian.
Honestly, I thought it wouldn't really matter if Kelly, Amour, and Hana weren't there. But Kelly had gone east and west as Jeanne's aide, contributing to the Ootori family's war achievements. Amour refused to listen to reason about continuing to be the Ootori family's freeloader. And Hana… was the only landed noble among everyone present, so she might offer some useful perspective.
This meeting was supposed to be just a preliminary chat—Primera wasn't there, everyone was still feeling the fatigue from various things—so I relayed what Tida had told me, shared that I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about the whole idea, and we kept it to a simple exchange of opinions. We agreed to get into it seriously starting tomorrow… but then,
"The Southern Viscount's army is really on a roll when it comes to combat operations. They work surprisingly fast for no reason… Well, it's a good thing, obviously, but it wouldn't have killed them to take a little longer coming back…"
Right in the middle of our early lunch ahead of the afternoon discussion, word arrived by fast horse to the Royal Capital that the Southern Viscount's army—which had been pursuing the rebel forces—had captured Dalam, the man who'd been leading the rebels.
Tida had said she'd be able to stretch things out about a week from the time of Dalam's capture. But on the flip side, that meant we now had to make decisions about the Ootori family's future—and more specifically, about our children's future—within this short window of time.
That said, there was one small silver lining: the person who brought the news of Dalam's capture to the Ootori family happened to be Albert. Normally, there'd be no reason to send military intelligence of that importance to a mere cooperative party. But Ernest-sama, who knew the contents of the reward the Royal Family intended to give the Ootori family, had guessed that I would be having discussions about whether or not to become a noble. So he temporarily relieved his brother-in-law Albert from his security detail duties and sent him over.
And so, after multiple rounds of discussion with Albert and Primera (who could only stay for short sessions, resting in between while using recovery magic) and Tida as the royal family's representative (with Maria-sama dropping in from time to time)… roughly one year after the King's victory declaration, the Ootori family settled into a life of traveling back and forth between the Royal Capital and Kukuri Village.