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A few days after I spoke with Bandit we prepared for our return trip. Before leaving, we went to meet Queen Titis in the same place as we first met. The queen was there, accompanied by Bandit and his party, and everyone in our group from Boraule as well.

“Let me thank you again, heroes. You have my gratitude for coming to my aid facing Behemoth. Especially you, Lapis, many of the lives in the city were spared thanks to you. No matter how much I thank you it’ll never be enough, but I hope you can accept my thanks.”
“Ah, no need to bow like that! I’ve been thanked more than enough.”

She had suddenly stood up and was bowing to me, which made me feel ashamed for making a queen do that.

“Usually I would make a banquet for the entire city in your name, but you do not wish for that sort of attention either. So to give you a suitable compensation, I’ve prepared the best reward I was able to.”

She lightly rang a small bell placed on the table, a pleasant note coming from it while many maids entered the place carrying plates with something on them. They stood in front of us, one maid in front of each member, and one after another they took away the cloth covering the contents of the plates.

“First a monetary reward, I’ve prepared two hundred gold coins for each one of you.”
“Two hundr-?!”
“Oh my…”
“Hiiee!”

The three girls who rarely interacted with large amounts of money, Karin, Ciel and Diaria, shrieked a little when they heard that. Even gold rank requests would never give anywhere close to two hundred gold coins as a reward, so I could not blame them for being so shocked. Luvias however, the only princess in our group, was perfectly calm as I expected.

“I still think it’s too little, but I can’t make the matter with Behemoth public so I couldn’t use the state treasury funds. I had to take everything from my private savings, so please bear with the limited reward.”
“Not at all, this is more than enough.”
“Yeah! Two hundred gold coins are so much..! I can’t believe it…”
“We’ll have plenty left even if we renew all of our equipment. We wouldn’t ask for more.”
“What should we do with it? I’m thinking of getting a really good meal one of these days.”

It seemed the sight of money had made the three forget they were in front of a queen. Watching them embrace the money and daydream made me feel second-hand embarrassment. But rather than being annoyed at them, Queen Titis forced an awkward smile. I was glad to see she was so laid back.

“I felt that wasn’t enough, so I’ve also prepared a special magic tool for you.”

Saying that, she took out a miniature house. She handed it to me to inspect, and as I peeked through the tiny windows I saw small beds, a kitchen, and even a bathroom, all modeled to the smallest detail. Whoever had made it had to be a famous craftsman.

“That’s an actual livable house that grows to its actual size when magic is applied to it. It requires quite a lot of magic power to gain its full size, so it’s only useful to powerful magicians, but I’m sure you can make good use of it.”
“This, a house?! That’s amazing. I never heard of such things existing!”

Even before I retired I had never heard of magic tools like that. But I would have had a much easier time fighting back then with something similar.

“You can easily extract the magic power infused in it when you need to transport it. Also, when big it automatically creates a barrier that deflects average attacks, so it offers a nice amount of defense. I’m sure it’ll be of help during your adventures.”
“I’m really thankful you’re offering this to us…but wouldn’t it be better for Bandit to keep it?”

I turned to look at him, but he shrugged with a wry smile.

“I told ya, our party is weak in the magic department. Even if we had one we’d never get it to grow. It’s best if someone who can use it keeps it.”
“…In that case we’ll gratefully accept it.”
“I’m glad to hear that.”

After receiving the reward and an unexpected magic tool, we returned to the palace’s front yard where our carriage waited for us. Queen Titis and Bandit’s party promising to see us off. We had decided to fly the entire way home. I had to debate it with Luvias first, to know if she thought it was a good idea, and apparently Queen Titis did not mind either when she asked, so flying back was decided.

“I’ll never be able to thank you enough, heroes.”
“Same from me. Come to have some fun too someday, will ya? We’ll always welcome y’all!”
“Don’t forget our promised match either, Karin.”
“I really wanted to give you a few gifts and treat you to our food…but I guess you have duties elsewhere, so it’ll have to be next time.”

I would have loved to stay and sightsee for a few days, but I had been away from work for too long. The guild and training school might have some trouble if I did not show up soon, so I could not stay for much longer and we decided to renounce sightseeing for another time. Queen Titis and Bandit with his two sisters saw us off.

“Thanks from us as well!”
“It was nice visiting you, we’ll make sure to put the magic tool to good use.”
“We’ll be back someday.”
“Next time actually show us around, alright?”
“Let’s meet again.”

We watched them wave at us as the carriage lifted towards the sky. I restrained Karin and the others as they leaned out the windows to wave back, making sure they would not fall off, then shook the reins and let the carriage glide forwards. The seaside country Barius, in the end we had no time to enjoy sightseeing, but there would always be a chance to come back. We would have fun when that day come.

“I’ll have to work hard again tomorrow.”

I had been away for more than a month. I started to feel a little exhausted thinking of different presents and ways to apologize to everyone in the guild, but the carriage moved onwards.