When Kousuke conveyed the concerns he had after finishing the request, Floria scowled.
“Hmph. That is indeed a problem,” she admitted.
As she had once been the queen of a country, Floria immediately understood what Kousuke was trying to say.
“Ah, so you think so too, Floria?”
“Of course. Doing nothing is out of the question, but getting too used to it can be a serious problem, don’t you think?”
“I suppose so.”
Even though there were constant requests to subjugate monsters around the town, if people in general became too accustomed to them, it could lead to extreme carelessness.
Since it had been confirmed that floods could occur even within the tower, one could not afford to be careless no matter what floor they were on.
“I suppose I should tell them right away… but you have no intention of stepping forward yourself, do you Kousuke?”
“Well, that’s about right.”
As an adventurer, he would mention any points he noticed to Sarasa, but he had no intention of meddling beyond that.
This had been his consistent stance from the beginning, and he had no intention of changing it.
Floria seemed to have anticipated this response from the start, as she nodded once and said,
“Then, I’ll mention it to Towa. …I hope they realize it with just this much information.”
“My, what a strict mother you are.”
Seeing Kousuke widen his eyes deliberately, Floria smiled playfully.
“It can’t be helped. After all, your father is far too lenient.”
“Oh. You’ve stirred up trouble now.”
As Kousuke said that and shrugged, Floria covered her mouth and burst into laughter.
Seeing that, Kousuke also wore a smile.
It was just another one of their usual relaxed conversations.
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While Kousuke and Floria’s relaxed relationship was one thing, the content of their conversation was not something that could be ignored.
After hearing what Kousuke had to say, Floria immediately used the Teleport Gate to head to the castle.
She used the Teleport Gate because it would allow her to bypass intermediaries.
Most importantly, the Teleport Gate within the castle led directly to the King’s chambers.
This increased the likelihood of her being able to meet him without going through unnecessary procedures.
Even though Floria was a former queen, as a retired individual, meeting the current king would require considerable formalities.
This was also to avoid such troublesome procedures.
After seeing Floria off at the room with the Teleport Gate, Kousuke headed to Crown’s Adventurer Division.
He had come directly home after finishing his request, so he hadn’t even reported its completion.
Sarasa was out on Guild business again today, so it would be good to report its completion to her.
Given the recent events, there was no one to stop Kousuke, and he and his companions were immediately shown to a separate room.
Within a few minutes, Sarasa appeared and bowed to Kousuke and his companions.
“I apologize. I was unable to get away sooner…”
“Ah, don’t worry about it. We know you’re busy, Sarasa, so we factored in some waiting time. Besides, weren’t you quick?”
Even though she said she was unable to get away, Kousuke and his companions had only waited a few minutes.
Considering the travel time, it seemed impossible that she had rushed over immediately after hearing them.
“Yes. Everyone knows I’m assigned to Lord Kou, so they prioritized me.”
Kousuke wondered if that was really the case, but he decided not to comment on Crown’s operational methods.
More importantly, there was something important to discuss right now.
After completing the request slip processing, Kousuke told Sarasa the same thing he had told Floria earlier.
Upon hearing Kousuke’s words, Sarasa’s expression became grim.
“That… is not something I can make a judgment on.”
“Ah. Perhaps not. The Merchant Division is likely involved too.”
Even Kousuke, who had spoken to Sarasa, did not expect her to be able to do something immediately.
He also had the intention of speaking as an adventurer to see how Crown would respond when concerns like these were raised from the field.
However, Kousuke’s expectations were hugely mistaken.
This became clear with Sarasa’s next words.
“Indeed. I will speak to the Division Head later.”
“Huh? Is Sarasa in a position to speak directly with Gazeran?”
Seeing Kousuke tilt his head, Sarasa smiled faintly and nodded.
“Yes, that’s right. Although, it’s also thanks to being assigned to you, Master.”
“Somehow, doesn’t that kind of defeat the purpose of hiding your identity?”
Kousuke wished to operate as a completely ordinary adventurer, but with Sarasa assigned to him, or rather, the surrounding environment was already far from ordinary.
Seeing Kousuke’s thoughts, Sarasa gave a troubled expression and then looked at Mitsuki.
At this place, there were only Kousuke, Sarasa, and Mitsuki.
Therefore, only Mitsuki could correct Kousuke’s misunderstanding (?).
Receiving his gaze, Mitsuki nodded reassuringly to Sarasa and said to Kousuke,
“You know. Just to clarify, it’s natural to give special treatment to someone of A Rank, isn’t it?”
Even setting aside Kousuke being an Avatar, his adventurer rank as “Kou,” his disguised form, was A Rank.
For someone of A Rank, it was natural to receive special treatment in any ordinary Guild.
At Crown Headquarters on the Fifth Floor of the Tower, there were quite a few A Rank adventurers, so they didn’t make an exaggerated fuss, but they still certainly enjoyed various privileges compared to other adventurers.
If one reached the S Rank above that, it wouldn’t be unusual for the Guild Master, or in Crown’s case, a Division Head, to deal with them directly.
Considering this, it was natural for Crown to assign Sarasa to Kousuke and then have the matter reported to the Guild Master.
This system was in place because, for any Guild (Crown), adventurers of high ranks were extremely important individuals.
For Sarasa, this was a fact she knew too well, but for Kousuke, it was not.
Given his original position, he was unsure of how much of the special treatment was for high-ranking individuals.
Understanding this, Sarasa explained to Kousuke again.
“My current response is purely as an A Rank adventurer. The reason this room has soundproofing is because it is sometimes necessary for high-ranking adventurers.”
For A Rank adventurers, the requests they received sometimes could not be disclosed to others.
For this reason, using rooms like this to have discussions was not just common, but almost an obligation.
After receiving explanations from Sarasa and Mitsuki, Kousuke once again realized that his knowledge was biased.
It was an obvious point if you thought about it, but his life had been so far removed from the “ordinary” that he realized he lacked general common sense.
He marveled that he had managed to live a normal life with such discrepancies, and reflected that it was thanks to the people who had closely assisted him until now.
Furthermore, since he had not lived a particularly conventional life, he hadn’t felt any inconvenience. However, it seemed that would not be the case going forward.
Now that he had bought a house, there was a possibility of needing to interact with his neighbors.
Of course, whether someone with an adventurer rank of A could be considered an ordinary person was debatable.
In that sense, Kousuke’s perception was still far from the word “ordinary.”
Kousuke’s knowledge of common sense is lacking in subtle areas.
Although he was involved in founding Crown, he possessed basic knowledge, but he knew almost nothing about how it had changed as it grew, or about implicit understandings.
Still, it didn’t become a major problem thanks to Kouhi and Mitsuki.
However, since he had been confined to the management layer, he had rarely caused trouble for them.
