Chapter 91: CH 85

A victory celebration was held yesterday and today in the Great Temple. A Great Temple CG didn’t exist in the game so it was the first time I actually saw the Great Temple’s interior. I must say, as expected of the Great Temple. Its interior was amazing. The well-calculated placement of lights and stained glasses in the temple created a solemn atmosphere.

In a sense, a victory celebration held in the Great Temple’s chapel was rarer than a celebration held in the palace. Duke Grunding, Grand Duke Seyfart, Supreme Priest, and Princess Laura stood on the stage. This place was as luxurious as the palace. I felt out of place here.

However, this place was rather empty because there were still people extracting the magic stones and incinerating corpses outside. The soldiers and orderlies needed to work a bit more.

Because I was a commoner at heart, I felt sorry for them. I wanted to treat them to something good but that would be impossible now. Our supplies were barely enough so I needed to wait until we returned to the capital.

By the way, Alligator Warriors could be eaten. However, it would be psychologically impossible for me to eat the demons who had probably eaten other humans.

Other than its meat, the Alligator Warriors’ skin was also useful as a material to create armors and shields. Armors created by using Alligator Warriors’ skins were tougher than normal leather armors but they looked like silly crocodile costumes so only mercenaries and adventurers wore them. As armors, their performance wasn’t bad though.

Generally, war spoils like the demons’ skin needed to be submitted to your superior in the army first, then that superior would return it to you as ‘bestowment’. The superior could also buy the war spoil at a fair price or the owner of the spoil could also ask his superior to buy the items.

The superior could refuse to buy the spoil or buy it at a cheap price but doing that would affect his reputation so usually, no one would do that.

Come to think of it, one of the Dead Swordsmans’ swords was a pretty rare item at the current time so I have to buy it from Neurath and Schunzel, and then give them an additional salary bonus. But there was only 1 sword, what should I do with it?

I don’t need a sword and the swords used by Mazell and his party were better compared to the Dead Swordsman’s sword. Should I just give it to Father as a souvenir….

“With the number 1 contribution in this battle, Mazell Hearthing! Step forward!”

“Yes!”

As I thought about completely unrelated stuff, the ceremony continued. At the Duke’s call, Mazell stepped forward. He then dropped to one knee at the bottom of the steps and bowed his head. That guy wasn’t even a knight so how could he look so perfect in that stance?? Was it because he was the protagonist?!

“No one can dispute that you have the most contribution in this battle as you have splendidly slain the demon commander. The kingdom would like to reward you for your accomplishment. Do you have any requests?”

“If you’d allowed me to, I do have a request.”

I could hear countless whispers coming from the nobles. These nobles must be thinking ‘what is he planning’ or something along that line.

“Speak!”

“I am a commoner and I was brought up in a humble household. As such, the fact that the Great Temple and its surroundings had been devastated by this war and yet I cannot do anything pains me.”

He sounded earnest, probably because it was actually his true feeling. As the one who advised him to ask for this reward, I felt complicated.

“That is why with all due respect, I would like to ask for a monetary reward and donate all of it to help the victims of this tragedy.”

The countless whispers I heard before immediately turned into countless gasps of surprise. No noble here probably expected Mazell to ask for this kind of reward.

“Splendid idea! I understand your wish. My house will provide the budget. An utmost effort to restore the Great Temple and its surroundings to what it had been before will be made under Sir’s name.”

“Thank you for granting my request.”

Since the Duke easily mentioned that his house would help, that meant that the Duke was serious about his earlier request to me. Damn. In any case, I think this was the end of Mazell’s reward.

With this, if anyone complained about Mazell’s reward, that person would be offending both the Duke who approved the reward and the Great Temple which received the reward as a donation under Mazell’s name. In this country, offending them both was no different from suicide.

Moreover, the amount of monetary reward wasn’t specified. Of course, the Duke also had his own pride so the amount wouldn’t be low, but the most important thing was that Mazell didn’t specify any amount so no one could call him ‘excessive’ or ‘selfish’. At most, people could call Mazell a ‘hypocrite’ or make some malicious rumor about him but doing that would be like telling the world ‘I’m jealous of the hero!’ and others would probably criticize or humiliate that person without me doing anything.

“Next, with the number 2 contribution in this battle, Welner von Zeavert. Step forward!”

“Yes!”

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Oh man, I was getting nervous, though I tried to keep a calm face and walked to Mazell’s side. I then bowed. This was the difference between a noble like me and a commoner like Mazell. I only needed to bow while Mazell needed to kneel. The only time a noble like me needed to kneel in an award ceremony like this was when the King was present. This was blatant discrimination.

I was curious what Mazell would think about this blatant discrimination so I turned my eyes to him and saw him smiling. I guess that he didn’t really care, huh? It was fine even if you were bothered with this, you know, Mazell.

“Viscount Welner von Zeavert, the plan that you made in this battle and your contribution in exterminating our enemies are both praiseworthy! We judged that you had received the proper penalty for your action of leaving your post without authorization. As such, the kingdom would like to reward your achievement.”

“Thank you very much.”

Perhaps some may wonder, how about the rest of my achievements like saving Mazell’s family? But you see, acknowledging someone’s military achievement was actually a bit complicated.

The barrier between what could be acknowledged as a military achievement and what couldn’t was thin. Half of it was my fault though.

Everything I did in Alea Village was not considered as part of this war. Other than that, some things such as ‘breaking through the enemy’s center’ would be considered as Zeavert house’s achievement, not my own achievement so Father would be the one who would get the praise just like what happened in the demon outbreak.

On the other hand, the plan was considered as my own personal contribution to this battle. Pretty complicated, right?

The army commander had the authority of giving the appropriate rewards and punishment for what a person did on that specific battlefield, but only a higher-ranked person, like His Majesty, had the authority to give the reward for contribution made outside of the battlefield like my battle in Alea Village.

That was why the Duke specifically said ‘this battle’ when praising my and Mazell’s achievement. That was also the reason why Duke only mentioned my plan in this battle and how I bravely fought on the battlefield as my achievement. Still, as expected of a noble. The Duke’s words ‘reward my achievement’ could both mean regarding only my achievement in this battle or rewarding all of my achievements, including what I did outside of this battle that affected this battle’s outcome.

If someone else who couldn’t read between the lines heard the Duke’s praise, that person might have thought that all the work done in Alea Village was useless. However, in my case, I understood the Duke’s sentiment of ‘I can’t praise you for that here’ so I had no intention to complain.

Usually, for the second-ranked contributor in the war, the commander would offer some reward and the contributor would just gratefully accept it. However, this time because of the Duke’s request, I needed to put on a little act which we decided in yesterday’s discussion. We also discussed Mazell’s reward yesterday.

“I will allow you to make a request this time. What do you want for a reward?”

“Then, do allow me to put forth my request. I have recently sent a plan regarding countermeasures against the demon army to the kingdom. I hope Your Excellency can cooperate with my plan.”

“What sort of plan is it?”

“It would be better for Your Excellency to look at it yourself in the capital. I do not need a reward here but I hope Your Excellency would be kind enough to arrange a budget and skilled craftsmen for me.”

In fact, I needed some craftsmen pretty urgently so let me use this opportunity. It should be fine to ask for this much, right?

“Sir is fine with just that reward?”

“There is no greater reward than being able to help this kingdom to win against demons!”

Grand Duke, sir, I know that my acting sucks but couldn’t you control your expression a bit more!? Your attempt to hold back your laughter was so obvious!

“Very well. I will see the plan that you are talking about when we return to the capital. I will also prepare a sufficient budget and write a letter of recommendation so Sir will be able to recruit as many craftsmen as you need. Then, I will arrange a separate reward to be given to the Zeavert house once we return to the capital.”

“I am eternally grateful for Your Excellency’s kindness!”

I bowed, and this act was now finished. The 1st rank contributor requested his reward to be donated to the war victims and to restore the Great Temple while the 2nd rank contributor requested a budget and skilled personnel for the sake of defeating the demons. Zeavert house would receive a separate reward but that was the Duke’s suggestion, not my own request. With all of these combined, the 3rd rank contributor and below wouldn’t be able to request excessive rewards.

However, if the reward was too small, it might affect the soldiers’ loyalty, but that was the Duke’s problem to solve, not mine. The royal family would have an internal discussion about Mazell later.

I honestly had mixed feelings about this. I felt like the Duke was an evil mastermind and I was his accomplice.

The location might be the Great Temple not the palace but it was still an award ceremony. There would not be any party but the ceremonial stuff like ‘thanking God for His blessings’ would still be held. I might not believe in God but some soldiers did. If a rumor like ‘the commander of the Count’s army doesn’t believe in God!’ appeared it might affect the soldiers’ morale.

Unlike my previous world, God’s miracles existed closely with the citizens in this world so I was the one that was a heretic. I mean, God clearly existed in this world but I didn’t believe in Him. On the other hand, relying too much on God would create a separate problem. Balancing between believing and not believing was pretty hard.

Ah, these things were complicated. My head started to hurt thinking about it. When will it end…

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