Chapter 8 (7): How NOT to keep a low profile, part 5
Of course, when we got to the guild, we expected the receptionist to react to our name, so...
"Hello, how may I help you today?" (Receptionist)
"We're here to report the completion of a quest. Please, don't make a fuss at the name of our party" (Ryuu)
"I've never made a fu... ck is this name?" (Receptionist)
She rubbed her eyes, read it again, and her jaw dropped.
"I'm sorry, your party's name is... The Demon Lord's Harem!? The hell!?" (Receptionist)
"I asked you not to make a fuss..." (Ryuu)
"That's an impossible request! How the hell was that name approved!? Who approved it!?" (Receptionist)
At that, a crowd started forming around us, though they kept a respectful distance from our party. However, adventurers weren't the only ones to gather, the guildmaster came downstairs too.
"What's with the commotion? Oh, it's Ryuu... what did you do this time? Bring in three dragons?" (Guildmaster)
"Guildmaster, you know these girls?" (Receptionist)
"How could I not? These girls are only the strongest party I know of in the current age. Ryuu here should probably be SSS rank, not A rank, and the same is true for that girl there, Verene. Honestly, no matter what they do, it wouldn't surprise me. If Ryuu were to marry a prince or even a princess, I'd just say 'as expected of Ryuu' like I did when I heard that she'd killed a greater hydra as a student in the training school" (GM)
The crowd, which was stunned into silence by the SSS rank comment, erupted into a frenzied cacophony at the hydra.
"SILENCE! Celica, what was the original cause for your getting upset?" (GM)
"It was because of our party name" (Ryuu)
"Ah, I und... er... stand... wait, no, I don't. What is your party name? I thought you didn't have one?" (GM)
"If I heard it right, and I probably didn't, their name is 'The Demon Lord's Harem' which I doubt would pass any guild or guildmaster's criteria for approval" (Adventurer)
"Well, it must have passed, and I'm actually not surprised at all by the name. It sounds exactly like what she'd do" (GM)
"Anyways, can we finish this up? We've got a meeting with the king pretty soon, so- QUIET! So we'd like to get going as early as we can" (Haru)
Haru... that wasn't quite the right thing to say in this situation... Still it worked, and we left the guild a few minutes later, heading straight for the castle. We didn't even give the guard time to try to deny us entry, as Haru just showed her badge, proving her identity. With that, he led us into the castle, had a servant rush to inform the king, and left us in the waiting room as he returned to his post. Since the king was meeting with someone else, we had to wait for a while. About an hour later, we were told to go to the dining room to eat lunch with his majesty, and entered to find what can only be described as a lavish banquet, one that had to have been made on no notice.
"Father... I feel bad for the chefs now... you didn't have to do this, you know" (Haru)
"Well, it's been done, so don't dismiss the effort the chefs went through and eat it. As you are here, I assume that you have made a decision about wh-" (King)
Haru held up her left hand, showing the ring I bought for her. At the same time, her tail was wagging quite quickly.
"That answers both that question, and the question of what you decided. Excellent! Now, how shall we announce this to the people? Do it now? Wait for a few weeks or months? Reveal who Miryuu is? Hide it? Hide the fact that you're marrying a female entirely?" (King)
"I think it'd be fine to reveal it in a few days, and we should hide the fact that I'm the Demon Lord-" (Ryuu)
I was interrupted by a large crash, which turned out to be a servant dropping the platter of food she was bringing to the table. I guess she didn't know who I was?
"As I was saying, we should hide that fact, and just present me as an adventurer, I guess. Maybe have my killing a demon general or three as a or the reason for me to be able to marry Haru?" (Ryuu)
"Wait, back up a bit... you've killed three demon generals? Personally?" (King)
"I killed two with my own hands... well, one with my dagger, the other with his own axe... and I personally caught a third who got executed, with the help of my party" (Ryuu)
"Well, that counts. Sounds like I have a good reason, as you suggested. Actually, with that track record, you should be promoted to SS rank at the very least, which would be another reason. I assume the three you killed were guilty of some large crimes?" (King)
"One tried to hire us to kill the Demon Lord over a petty grudge, one tried to help him escape and to execute us, and one went against Ryuu's orders and tried to invade the human lands, so yes, guilty of treason" (Ver)
"Well, in the case of the last one, I must thank you for that. You've protected my country" (King)
Well, I was actually trying to protect the potential for good a relationship between our two countries, but... I'll let him believe what he wants to in this case, as it's more advantageous if he thinks it was for that reason.
"Oh, right. Miryuu, you've never actually met Haru's mother, have you? As she's been wanting to be with Haru these last few months, I think you might as well meet your soon-to-be mother-in-law at the same time" (King)
"Sounds reasonable, though Haru should have some time to see her alone first, I think" (Ryuu)
"That's fair. Since there's not much more to talk about, how about we eat, and then Haru can meet with Eli while you talk a bit more about what happened on your trip. Oh, right. Elisanne is Haru's mother, if you couldn't guess. Sadly, she's more or less blind now, after an assassin tried to kill her ten years ago, cutting out both eyes while torturing her for some reason. I'm thankful he did, because he could have killed her faster" (King)
"Yeah... wait... Ryuu? Do you think..." (Haru)
"I might be able to do something about her eyes. No promises, but I would like yours in regards to keeping quiet about who healed her" (Ryuu)
"You... are you serious? You might be able to?! Of course I'd keep quiet if you want! That's a small price to pay for something like that! I'd be prepared to give you my daugh- wait, I already am going to do so" (King)
"Maybe you could make the reward be speaking with the guildmaster to try to make it be such that our party isn't affected by the rank up restrictions regarding the time spent as an adventurer?" (Ryuu)
"I could do that. No promises on how much of an effect I'd be able to have, but I can try. I'd probably only be able to halve the needed time, so you'd only need six months for S and two and a half years for SS... no, wait. I could also make a recommendation that Ryuu get ranked up to SS for her killing a demon general, and the rest of the party could be ranked up to A or S for contributions in regards to the same achievement" (King)
"That would be more than enough, I think. Any more than that might be regarded as nepotism, after all" (Ryuu)
We didn't talk much after that, as we were eating some seriously good food. After we finished, Haru went to see her mother, and the rest of us spent half an hour or so informing the king of all that happened since he last saw us, excluding the time we met at the border, because we didn't introduce him to Tuare or talk to him about my coronation. After that, we moved on to making some rough plans for how to introduce me to the world as Haru's fiancee.
"So, we haven't talked about what I should wear. Should I dress up as an adventurer, in the fashion of the demon lands, or in the fashion of the human lands? Maybe like the elves sometimes do?" (Ryuu)
"I think that any of those besides the demon lands would be fine. Probably the f-" (King)
"Pardon the interruption. Lady Elisanne wishes to speak with the one known as 'Miryuu' and her companions. She also said that your majesty is welcome to join, but is not necessarily requested to come" (Servant)
"Very well. We shall plan this more later, as I do have my own schedule to deal with. I've postponed enough things to talk with you, so my advisors will give me an earful later" (King)
The king left one way, the servant guiding us down another corridor to a closed door, which she knocked on. A few seconds later, Haru opened it, ushered us in, and explained to the woman sitting up in the large bed in the middle of the room that I was going to try to heal her eyes. She was a wolfkin like Haru, with her hair a natural white, not white with age. She seemed to be in her mid 20s, so how young was she when she gave birth to Haru? She was dressed in a modest nightgown, though it still seemed provocative due to the fact that her breasts were as large as Tuare's. She wore a band of cloth over her eyes, which also held back her long hair. However, as Haru spoke, she shook her head.
"It's not going to work. The royal healer couldn't do anything, nor any of the top healers from the healer's guild. The best they could do was alleviate the pain for a few days, or two weeks in the case of the royal healer" (Eli)
"Are they able to regrow lost limbs?" (Mae)
"N-no... that's something I've only heard of... in legends and myths..." (Eli)
In response, I walked up to her and tried to heal her. I felt like something resisted my healing, so I probed it with my mana as I tried again.
"Tch. Are the standards for healers here so low? They couldn't notice the fact that the wound is cursed" (Ryuu)
"Eh? It is? That would explain why it wouldn't heal, but..." (Haru)
"Ah! Got it. The curse has been removed, time to... That should do it. Try opening your eyes" (Ryuu)
"Wh- What... I... I can see! I can seeeeeeeeee!" (Eli)
The door was thrown open with a bang, two servants barging in at the same time.
"You can what!?" (Maid)
"It's a miracle!" (Butler)
"I'll go get his majesty!" (Maid)
And just like that, the maid left again, leaving the butler to ask if there was anything Eli needed.
"There's little I'd like... well, I'd like to see what's changed around here at some point, but that should wait" (Eli)
"Very well. I shall go spread the news, so enjoy your reunion with your daughter and her... friends?" (Butler)
"For us, it's a first meeting, but yes" (Ryuu)
"Oh, mother... I'm so glad. Well, now it's time to meet everyone, if that's okay with you" (Haru)
"I... Of course. You've grown so much... I only remember how you looked when you were five years old... You certainly weren't this tall, though... your breasts still look the same, relative to the size of the rest of your body. No, they seemed a bit bigger back then, actually. You started growing them at such a young age... they were big enough to cup in my hand at age four" (Eli)
"Mother... No, it's fine. All of these girls know me for who I am, and are my party members, as I go about as an adventurer... well, for introductions, the one who healed you is Ryuu, who is also the girl that I'm going to marry. After that, we have Mae Austine, daughter of the captain of the royal guard, Char, er, Charlotte von Ascham, a name you'll recognize, Elise, who's basically a princess among high elves, Tuare... Tuareninya Lars, daughter of Takigawa Lars, who holds the first seat of the demon generals - oh, sorry. I forgot that you don't actually have much reason to understand that demons aren't what the church says they are. Anyways, finally, we have Ver, who is... well, what race do you think she is? She's not a partblood, if that helps" (Haru)
As she spoke, she gestured to each of us in turn, as we gave some form of silent greeting. At Tuare's introduction, Haru's mother shrank back a bit, but that faded with Haru's reassurance. When Haru asked her question, she seemed puzzled for a while, but eventually answered.
"I'd say human, but she might be another demon like Tuareninya, since she can hide her wings and horns, it seems. Am I right?" (Eli)
"Nope. Tuare can do so because she's a partblood and a strong demon both. Meet the eleventh divine beast, the Wyvern Lord Verene, and Ryuu's contracted beast. Oh? Hello... are you still with us? Mother?" (Haru)
"Oh, sorry. What will the next person be? An SS rank adventurer?" (Eli)
"I mean, in a way, yes. There are three more pieces of information for you to know, the first is that Ryuu is actually Miryuu Maou, the Demon Lord - I should have guessed" (Haru)
We waited for a few minutes for her to recover and sit back up, then continued.
"As I was saying, I'm going to marry the Demon Lord. It's both a political marriage and one born out of love, so don't worry, I like the situation. Anyways, the second bit of information is that Ryuu is going to get promoted to SS rank soon, and the rest of us are B and A ranks, though some might reach S rank in the near future. The third thing to tell you is that the name of our party reflects the truth. Our party's name is... brace yourself... The Demon Lord's Harem. I... Oh, wow, you didn't faint. That's good, it means you're improving, and also building a resistance to the effects of Ryuu's unfortunate habit of shattering common sense" (Haru)
"That... was a bit uncalled for. I... wait, no, it's perfectly accurate. Sorry, forget what I was saying" (Ryuu)