The two Master Liberomancers introduced themselves - much like with many other lizardmen their names were hard for me to wrap my tongue around, though the closest things I could think of were 'Chestnut' and 'Kent' respectively.

"I would like to apologize for making you wait a week for this," the king said. "When I was the one who invited you in the first place, but ah, some other things had already come up, and I hadn't been certain of what time you would arrive."

"No, no, it's fine and completely understandable," I said. As far as I knew, it could take months if not longer than a year for a normal person to get an audience with the king, so the fact that I had been seen in a week was already a big deal to me.

"How was your journey coming here?"

"It was fine," I said, not bothering to mention the part where I was nearly robbed. That was already being taken care of by the city guards.

An image of Drake flashed in my mind: "If the king offers you his hand, shake it, but don't offer yours. I would also tell you to not shake it too hard as he's elderly to prevent you from hurting him, but sorry to say this brother, with those noodle arms of yours there's no risk of that."

The king didn't do anything like that, and despite Drake's rather snide comment, I did appreciate his advice because I felt like if he hadn't mentioned that before, I might've, in my confusion, tried to offer my own hand.

"Is this a meeting of the Master Liberomancers in the city?" I asked, glancing at Chestnut and Kent.

"No, well, I wanted to do something of the sort - but one of them is out and another one is tending to other emergent business at the moment," the king said. I noted that the two missing Master Liberomancer were probably human - I had heard that the capital had two lizardmen and two human Master Liberomancers. "But, do please take a seat right here. I've been wondering - how is old Master Jiah Pei doing?"

He had pointed to the seat next to him, on the left. The others were sitting on his right. From what I've always known, at big events like this, nothing is a coincidence and there is purpose and planning behind everything. So what did seating me right next to him, but on the left side mean? I didn't know enough about lizardmen customs to make a guess - though I had noticed that when humans and lizardmen gathered together during certain rare occasions, they would naturally divide themselves into two sides. Maybe that was all that was going on and I was reading too much into the seating arrangements.

"Oh, he's doing quite well for himself," I told him. "He wanted me to give you his regards if I ever came across Your Majesty." I hadn't known this before - but the king and Master Jiah Pei had some history together, which I only got to know during the party after the siege which Master Jiah Pei had invited me to. He only mentioned a few words at the time, but had asked me to give the king his regards. There was only one other thing he had mentioned. "He said that the two of you had been rivals at some point? Is that true, Your Majesty?"

"Yes, yes," the king said with a faint smile. "I remember it almost as if it were yesterday. I had been crown prince at the time, not the king yet, though that hadn't stopped him from thoroughly thrashing me in a Liberomancer's dueling tournament. It hurt my ego quite a bit, and I kept challenging him over and over, though I never did manage to beat him. Ah, it's good to know that he's doing well though, I've lived for so many decades that knowing people from my time are still around is somewhat of a luxury."

"Yes, I was slightly worried that he might get himself hurt during the siege," I admitted. "Though, he refused to stay in the back and fought with us on the front quite heroically." I then paused as I thought of something. "Your Majesty, you say that you never beat him - but that can't be true, right? You're a Rank Four Liberomancer now."

The king chuckled. "In power, yes, I've bested him. But, I never could beat him in a duel is what I'm saying." He leaned forward. "I also never earned the title of Master Liberomancer either. Try as I might, I had not been able to make a new Rank Three grimoire, and before you knew it, I was king, I had other responsibilities, and I had to abandon such a notion for my duties. And now, I'm old!" He laughed and then pointed to the purple sash around my waist. "That - that there is a mark of excellence, young man. Make sure to respect it. It's a sign of someone who has built the foundation for another generation. Yes, I am Rank Four, but that is only possible because one of my ancestors was exceptional and had thought of a new Rank Four grimoire himself - it is the same story for Lance. What have we created on our own for our children? It is unfortunate, but the children of such geniuses, though they reap the rewards of their ancestors, haven't been able to replicate their feats."

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"But… I mean, you are leaving them this kingdom," I said. "I mean, that is far more important than a grimoire or two, isn't it?"

"Perhaps it is," the king said. "But I wonder if things could be different. When I rose to power, Master Jiah Pei was the rising star of the Liberomancy world here in Chipker. I had thought that he might be the one who would finally deliver us with a new Rank Four grimoire - even though I was a bit jealous at the time and had secretly been hoping that he would fail in a small, selfish corner of my heart. Now though, with age, I realize how foolish I was! If Master Jiah Pei had been successful, it would have been a great cause for celebration for my nation! Alas, it was not to be. Yes, the kingdom has flourished during my reign - though my reign is somewhat marred by the recent dryad invasion. But, the one thing that I hadn't accomplished during my rule was to make way for another Rank Four grimoire to be added to this nation's collection. If I could have accomplished that, I would have died knowing that my reign was about as perfect as could be - though, even without it, I suppose I am satisfied enough. One cannot get everything that one wants in this world."

"Fear not, Your Majesty," Chestnut said. "Even if a tree falls in the forest, new saplings will emerge each spring. Although our old rising start, Master Jiah Pei may have failed - not to disregard his other achievements in the slightest, we have a new rising star now then don't we?"

It took me much longer than it should have to realize who they were talking about. "Me?"

"But of course," Kyle said. "The youngest Master Liberomancer till date, and you have made not one, but two new Rank Three grimoires! I understand that you're still young, but that means that there is all the more potential for you to explore as you grow!"

"Indeed," the king said. "If you were to make a new Rank Four grimoire, I would more than happily hand you an earldom. The prize had initially been meant only for a lizardman, but I, and I would like to believe my successors as well, would not dare discriminate against the author of a new Rank Four grimoire."

Yeah - I had a feeling it was going to lead to something like this.

People assumed that I was some kind of genius at making grimoires - though in reality I was 'cheating.'

It made me feel a bit uneasy, because I knew that part of the special treatment and resources I was getting was not just a gift or because people were feeling generous - no, they viewed this as an investment in me. An investment, in case I did happen to write a new Rank Four grimoire one day.

Could I? It was possible that in a few years I could think of something like that, the issue was that by that time, I'd likely have forgotten even more of what I'd learned on Earth. Truth be told I couldn't be fully confident in my ability to make one unless I managed to get my smartphone to work again.

There was an even bigger issue with this: I didn't plan on staying in Chipker. The king likely knew of my plans to leave the country, but was likely assuming that I might one day come back or that he could coax me in some way to stay or remain here. That was probably why he had mentioned the prize of an earldom and had basically confirmed that he would give it to me if I succeeded.

The issue wasn't staying in the country, as I thought Chipker was rather nice from what I'd seen up till now, dryad horde notwithstanding - though I would in all honestly probably prefer to settle down in a majority human country.

The issue was that once I found a way out of this world, I would leave. Permanently. I really didn't have any desire to return - well, I suppose that if there was a way to come back and leave at will, in that case I might consider returning.

But, that was all just hypothetical.

The main thing was that I felt like a fraud not just because of the 'original' Rank Three grimoires I had made to claim this title, but because I was in a way, taking advantage of kindness that I had no intention of repaying.

Granted, they had made no overt promises as of yet, but the implicit societal contract was still there, wasn't it?

And when it came to Liberomancy in this world, most of it was based on such implicit agreements and norms rather than explicit rules

Back on Earth, there was a joke that you would sometimes hear on the Internet- 'my teacher says I should study hard because I'm the future of this country- but I've been studying hard to leave this country.' This was said in the context of students in developing countries eager to emigrate to greener pastures.

In a way, that was what I was doing - taking resources from the kingdom, and then using it to further my own gains before leaving and not really paying it back.

If I had been upfront about it, I wouldn't have minded too much, but right now, it felt like I was misleading them and deliberately doing so for my own personal benefit.

Of course, I really couldn't tell them the truth- Lance hadn't, and it was obvious why. Even now, I doubted whether Lance had believed me on the 'other world' thing, and I was even on the fence whether or not Zeke believed it either. Drake and Granny Qi were the only people I had told who I was relatively confident truly believed me on that matter.

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