Behind the Scenes I
EVEN AFTER SEI returned from Hawke’s Domain, the members of the Special Service continued to search the lands for black swamps and monsters. The king finished reading one of their regular reports in his office and sighed like he had just completed a difficult task.
“So that was the last, then,” the king murmured as if to himself.
“Yes, Your Majesty,” the prime minister replied. He had been the one to deliver the report. “I believe we can say with confidence that monsters are spawning at normal rates across the kingdom.”
They hadn’t found anything new since the discovery of the black swamps in Hawke’s Domain. They had also received reports from every territory that the monster population had fallen to a manageable level for the local soldiers. The king had just read a letter attesting to that from the final territory on his list.
From the assembled reports, the king and prime minister concluded that the miasma crisis had been resolved.
“It felt long, but it was short, wasn’t it?” the king said, full of emotion.
“All thanks to Lady Sei,” the prime minister said, naming the one to whom they owed it all.
“Indeed.”
They both thought of Sei at that moment: the woman from another world whom they had been forced to summon using the Saint Summoning Ritual when the Saint failed to appear, despite the density of the miasma. Even though the crown prince had slighted Sei immediately after her summoning, she had accepted the king’s request to travel the country and dispel the miasma against which they were helpless without her.
Moreover, Sei’s abilities went far beyond purifying the miasma, the gift which had been written of in books. She was developing potions even more effective than the ones the kingdom had previously possessed, had discovered the effects the Cooking skill could bestow, devised powerful enchantments, and healed patients in critical condition. In addition to the powers of the Saint, which had been hidden since time immemorial, she had displayed powers beyond their wildest dreams in a variety of fields, as well as used the knowledge she had brought from her original world to promote their kingdom’s development.
“We have many things we must consider, but first, we must reward her.”
The prime minister furrowed his brow. “That problem will be difficult to resolve.”
The king smiled tiredly. “Indeed. She hardly has any wants to speak of.”
Sei had saved their kingdom. They had rewarded her for slaying monsters as well as given her a salary for her work at the institute, but it wasn’t nearly enough, considering all she had achieved. They had to keep up appearances in front of the nobility, so as the king, he had a duty to reward her even further. However, Sei was free of avarice, which presented a riddle.
As the king, he wanted to grant the brilliant Sei a title and land to bind her to their kingdom, and he would have done so even if she weren’t the Saint. But Sei wasn’t enticed by such rewards, whereas generally people would have been delighted. In fact, she abhorred the very idea.
The only things Sei had desired thus far were intangible, such as the classes from teachers at the palace and the right to browse the Forbidden Depository. The bedrooms and dining hall built at the Research Institute of Medicinal Flora at Sei’s request were part of a national facility and thus couldn’t be counted as personal favors. The only other thing she’d received was the money she needed to live.
They certainly didn’t want to offer anything that Sei disliked, but they were utterly stumped, as they also had to consider the interests of the nation—they couldn’t just do nothing. Ultimately, they decided to interrogate someone who knew Sei much better than they did: Johan, the head researcher at the institute, who had cooperated with them previously.
Johan readily stopped their offer in its tracks before they could even really ask—as expected. They started by bringing up the topic of rewarding Sei for purifying the kingdom, at which Johan sank into thought. They hoped they could ask him what kind of reward she would like after that, but they stumbled at the very first step.
“That is a difficult question,” he said.
The prime minister didn’t miss a beat as he said, “Is it? We were thinking of granting her the title of duchess.”
Sei might have been a commoner in the world she came from, but she was of a rank on par with the king in this one. They had thus been preparing to give her the rank of duchess, which was only offered to those of the royal bloodline.
Johan hesitated before he said, “While I find that to be an offer of unprecedented magnanimity, I believe she would not accept.”
Johan’s cheek also twitched. Surely he could sense the king and prime minister’s hopefulness. However, he respected Sei’s wishes and managed to reject the suggestion, even though it came from the two most powerful people in Salutania.
“What about a domain?” Though the prime minister knew it was a long shot, he had to try.
Johan did not nod. “That goes for a domain too.”
There was an awkward silence in the room before the king said, resigned, “So she truly desires neither.”
“Indeed she doesn’t. I’ve tried to indirectly ask her if she would accept, but she always responds with disinterest.”
“I see.”
They had all known this day would come, a day when the kingdom had been near-completely purified and they would have to discuss a reward. Johan had taken it upon himself to test Sei’s feelings before they even summoned him.
Johan often hid in his older brother Lorant’s shadow, but he was a highly competent fellow. While he had distanced himself from political machinations, he had the talent to be named head of an institute and worked to maintain a political balance from his position. It could have been said that he was discerning when it came to subtleties. He was good at staying one step ahead of a situation and focused on even the finest details. This time, he had put that special skill on full display.
The palace couldn’t offer other people rewards when they hadn’t properly done so for the person who had played the largest role in a great work. As things stood, the crown couldn’t rightly recognize the knights and the mages who had played a part until they acknowledged the Saint.
What was the consequence of this? In short, they had to get Sei to accept a reward, even if she didn’t particularly care to have one.
Just as the prime minister was on the verge of trying to persuade Johan, Johan beat him to the punch. “Your Excellency.”
“Yes?”
“I hate to make a request at this juncture, but there’s something with which I would like to beg your assistance.”
The prime minister gave him a tight smile and urged Johan to continue with a look.
That was when Johan brought up the expansion of the institute’s herb garden. “I made this request once before, but at the time, it could not be granted. We’ve been getting by as best we can, but the number of herbs grown by the institute has increased, and we’re just about at our limit.”
“So you wish to make your request again.”
“Yes.”
The prime minister put a hand to his chin as he pondered. At face value, it sounded like Johan was begging the prime minister for support for a request that had been denied once before. However, both he and the king inferred that there was more to Johan’s choice to bring the topic back up. Johan made it sound like he it was an incidental subject change, but he had his reasons. They suspected, based on how the conversation had been proceeding, that Johan was alluding to a solution to the riddle of Sei’s reward.