Chapter LXIX - Praise the Sun (part 2)

"Ah! You are alive!"

Keila said at Hod. We arrived on the front of the line to the receptionist desk, and Klane is still nowhere to be found.

"Where's... Klane?"

I asked, and Keila shook her head.

"I told you. She took the day off, and now I'm dealing with this the entire day."

"Does the Office really have only you two as the receptionists?"

"The master doesn't want too much of an assistant, because the bigger the number the harder it is to maintain."

"But in cases like these, you do need help, don't you?"

"Well..."

I let out a sigh, and Hod received the mission reward from Keila.

"Tell me what happened at the mission later, okay Hod?"

Keila said as she blinked her right eye.

"Y-Yes, sure."

One of my eyebrows was lifted rather high towards Hod, and he quickly asked.

"What?"

"Hah! Nothing."

I answered after a chuckle, and we both left the Office. After agreeing to meet tonight for dinner, we left our own separate ways.

Arriving at my room, I quickly leaped to the bed and closed my eyes.

What to do, what to do…

Maybe I should try and catch up to the news. The lobby of the inn sells some newspapers for their customers, and I always bought some in case something interesting happens.

Hmm. Maybe I should try going for subscribing to the newspapers.

I quickly went back up and bought a newspaper, and also subscribed to it with the inn owner. After that, I headed back up and leaped to my bed again. All in less than two minutes.

I tried buying the newspaper from the past month, but the inn lady didn't have that long. She only kept for the past two weeks, and she didn't plan on selling those. So I borrowed them and bought the newest one.

One by one, I read the newspaper starting two weeks ago.

Funny, two weeks ago was actually the day when I fought against the trio of destruction, and there's the sun's collapse too.

A lot of the newspapers from two weeks until today discussed the incident, as well as the events on Veldonia. They also discussed a lot about the political issues on Veldonia. There's also the part where Veldonia turned the sun's collapsing lake into a recreational spot.

I should probably visit there at least once for holiday.

The newspaper also said that no one knows how the sun's collapse happened, but they suspected one of the rankers from Veldonia accidently shot out their maximum strength, because they were present during the incident.

And thanks to this guess, the other kingdoms feared Veldonia more.

"Hah. Hilarious."

I said as I closed the final newspaper.

Aside from the things happening at Veldon, there are also multiple things happening here. There was a Green ranking up test just three weeks ago that I missed. There are also the knights great festival, where the kingdom celebrates all the good things the knights have done to the kingdom.

It's quite self centred if you ask me. The kingdom is celebrating their military.

I read a headline that seemed to pique my interest. 'The mansion belonged to the Duke Hilva family that got attacked by an assassin has been fully fixed'.

First of all, 'Duke'!?

Valey is the daughter of a... Duke?

Duke is the second highest level of noble rank in the kingdom. It is placed right under the royalty, which is the number one rank. There is also a position called Archduke, but archdukes are quite rare. They only exist in certain conditions.

If I'm not wrong, the current king was an archduke. He became an archduke because he married the king's daughter, and he didn't receive the king title yet. Before he was an archduke, he was the kingdom's knight general.

The current king must've been some crazy famous guy. Then again, he is the number one man in the kingdom for a reason.

The third bell rang not long after I finished reading the newest newspaper. I quickly cleaned up the papers and prepared for dinner. I also made sure to cover my entire arm and legs from any exposure before I head out.

I returned the newspapers to the inn lady. She was quite surprised that I read the whole thing already and I simply said I don't have much to do.

I wonder what other people do when they have nothing to do. Me? Probably reading.

After returning it, I headed out to Hod's diner.

The night's breeze hit my face when I exited the inn. Oh, how I miss this, the cold weather. Veldon was so shit when it came to the cold temperature.

I took a deep breath for a second before beginning my stroll.

The sound of the bell rang when I opened the door. Hod is right there behind the table, and he looked quite tired.

After all, he was trapped in a dungeon for three days, and when he got back, he immediately got sent to work by his mother. Life is cruel for him.

"H-Hello, ma'am. What can I get for you?"

"Just cooked chicken."

"Wow, so bland… Coming up..."

He answered lazily. He is doing his very best.

I picked the seat not that far from the waiting line, since it's quite close. I took out the coms crystal and lit it up.

"Testing, testing. Anyone home?"

I said to the crystal. For a while there's no response, but after waiting ten seconds, Barett's voice came out.

"Yo! I'm on my way there now. Where are you guys?"

"I'm already here."

"Wow. Okay then."

Barett's voice came to a halt. He stopped talking and continued his walk. He arrived a few minutes later on his casual clothes. 

Seeing how his hair is properly combed now, I can tell he bathed already.

After a while, Valey's voice came from the crystal, saying she will be quite late because his father had some guests. After hearing her talk, I recalled about just finding out that her father is a duke. When I asked Barett about it, he somehow said he already knows.

So I facepalmed by myself and smacked my forehead on the table.

"You came to her house without knowing that?"

"Mmm..."

I mumbled while still having my face down.