Melinda and Merlin brought them to the guest room to welcome them, but...
"August, what's wrong? You're not coming with them, right?" Merlin asked directly.
"Um..." August raised his eyebrow, but the one who said those words was Merlin, the hero. It was a great thing that Merlin stayed in his kingdom. After all, with him around, the protection of his kingdom would become better, and at the same time, he also knew that if he was rude, Merlin, Melinda, and Shin might move, and their destination, without doubt, Els!
August knew that he couldn't let that happen, so he said, "Merlin-sama, we, the royalty, have decided to give Shin Wolford a reward for his service to protect this kingdom from the devil."
Merlin raised his eyebrows, and his expression started to change. "Are you going to use my grandson as your political tool?"
"Of course not!" August quickly shook his head and said, "If Shin is the one who slays the devil, then we might be able to give him a medal as a hero, but the one who has slain the devil is the army, so it isn't good to give him a medal, and we have decided to give him land and money for what he has done to the country."
Merlin nodded and didn't care much about the royalty as long as they didn't use his grandson as a political tool, which was why he was glad that there was Haru here. After all, he didn't want his grandson to be trapped in this kingdom.
The Earlshide Kingdom might be a huge kingdom, but it was very fragile. After all, a single devil could destroy this peaceful kingdom, and Merlin also knew how important his grandson's power was to this kingdom, which was why he knew that the kingdom might do everything to get his grandson, but with Haru was here, everything couldn't go according to their plan.
Merlin knew that even though both Diseum (King of the Earlshide) and August might be good and their intentions were pure to befriend them, but no human was unselfish. He knew that both of them wanted to stay in this Earlshide Kingdom forever, which was why he was grateful for Haru's appearance, whose position didn't even lose to August, or rather, even better, but he wasn't sure why Haru was here. He then glanced at the four girls and twitched his lips, and had to admit that this guy really knew how to enjoy his life.
"Your Highness, don't forget about my reward too," Haru said with a smile.
"Yes, you don't need to worry," August said with a sigh, feeling that his position as a crown prince was useless in this place.
"Kasugano, you're already wealthy. What is the use of a little piece of land?" Melinda scolded Haru without hesitation.
"Guru, that's where you're wrong." Haru shook his head and said, "For example, a mother has two children, and this mother bought one of his other children a candy. It doesn't really matter if the other children don't know about it, but once this child knows, he will ask the candy too, right? So it'll be fair." He shrugged his shoulders and said, "I only want the royalty of the Earlshide Kingdom to be fair, or are they not fair?"
"No, we're fair," August said without hesitation.
"That's good. I'm waiting for my land and money," Haru said without looking away from August, and because of this, August looked away since August couldn't stand against the pressure from his stare.
"....." They were speechless when a huge land and money was being compared to candy. Still, they couldn't refute Haru's words, after all, the one who said that it was a small piece of land was Melinda, but at the same time, they looked at the confrontation between August and Haru, before shaking their heads since they knew who was better.
Melinda laughed and said, "Kasugano, no, Haru, can I call you that?"
"Yes." Haru nodded with a smile, then said, "And Guru, can I call you big sister?"
"Big sister?!" Everyone was dumbfounded.
"Like a wine, even though you've aged, I can see that your beauty is very well preserved," Haru said with a sincere smile.
"..." Everyone was speechless since no one expected that Haru would flirt with Melinda Bowen.
Melinda blushed and coughed several times. "Big sister is too much. I know my age very well, but you can call me Aunt Melinda or something."
"Yes, Aunt Melinda," Haru said with a cheeky smile.
'This guy....' Yuri, Lynn, Sicily, and Maria were speechless at how cheeky and shameless this guy was.
As expected, because of this, there was a strange atmosphere between Haru and Melinda for some reason.
'Eh? Eh? Eh?' Shin really couldn't understand what was happening in front of him. After all, his mind was pretty much simple, and all he could do was to think about magic.
"Cough! Cough!" Merlin coughed to change this strange atmosphere and asked, "Haru, can I call you that too?"
"Yes." Haru nodded with a smile and said, "Should I call you Uncle Merlin too?"
Merlin was amused and said, "I don't mind." Unlike the stiff royalty, he liked Haru's style more, so without hesitation, he asked, "Haru, I've heard that you've stopped the fire of Kurt before? May I ask how you can do that?"
"!!!"
When they heard Merlin's question, August, Maria, and Sicily also looked at Haru curiously since they also wanted to know how Haru could erase the fire from Kurt before.
As for Lynn and Yuri, both of them knew already how Haru could do it, so they didn't feel that much surprised when Haru wanted to tell Melinda, Merlin, and Shin about his magic.
Shin was also curious at how Haru could erase Kurt's flame before wondering how Haru was able to do it.
Haru nodded and said, "Yes, I don't mind telling you, but..." He glanced at August deliberately but didn't say anything.
"Ah!" Merlin noticed Haru's deliberate gaze and said, "I'm sorry, Your Highness, can you go home first?" He didn't feel guilty about this since he knew the importance of magic to a magician.
"...." August was in shock when he was told to go home. He opened his mouth then closed it again before looking at Shin, hoping Shin would help him.
Shin also noticed August, then looked at Haru and asked, "Can August stay?"
"Shin, if one day you open a restaurant and everyone who has eaten your food says that your food is delicious, and you get a lot of money from it, are you happy?" Haru asked.
Shin didn't know why Haru asked this question, but he nodded. "Yes."
"Then if one day, the owner of the rival of your restaurant comes to you, then ask what is the secret recipe of your food, will you give him?" Haru asked.
"Of course not." Shin shook his head and knew the importance of the secret recipe for his restaurant. He might be able to give it to his friends and family, but not to his competitor.
"There you go." Haru smiled and said, "What you have asked me is something like that." He looked at August and said, "Your Highness, I'm sure that you're unhappy at this moment, but you should also need to understand my position, after all, our country isn't exactly an alliance, and even if we're an alliance, there's no way that we can tell every one of our secrets, right? Even to our most important people, we sometimes also have a secret that we have always kept."
'Ah!' Shin finally understood, and he also knew that his request was rude before, so he quickly said, "I'm sorry, Haru. I've said something wrong."
"Don't be. It is good that you have realized that you've made a mistake. What is scary is when you have made a mistake, but you don't realize that mistake," Haru said.
Merlin and Melinda nodded simultaneously, and Yuri, Lynn, Sicily, and Maria were looking at Haru in amazement.
Shin nodded without hesitation and thanked Haru. He then looked at August apologetically and said, "Well, sorry, Aug."
August sighed and nodded. "Then I'll go back now." He knew that staying here any longer would lower his prestige as royalty, so he left without hesitation, and at the same time, his face was burning in shame when he thought that he was so shameless to ask his friend to let him stay. He didn't have any face to stay any longer and decided to leave right away.
"Well... then we'll go too, Haru," Maria said sadly.
Sicily also stood up and also felt sad.
After all, they both realized that they were outsiders, so they decided to leave, but...
"You two can stay. I don't mind explaining it to both of you," Haru said.
"Huh?" 2x
Maria and Sicily were surprised.
"It isn't something special after all, and what is our relationship? You two are also beautiful girls. It is also good to become stronger so you can protect yourselves better," Haru said with a smile.
"Haru..." Sicily was moved at that moment.
"It's great that you know," Maria said with a beautiful smile since she was also happy that Haru didn't treat her as a stranger.
"Sit down first," Haru said.
Maria and Sicily nodded then sat down one by one, but there was still a trace of worry on their faces.
Maria looked at Haru then asked, "Haru is that alright?"