With how the operation in the Deter Kingdom went, it was impossible for me to avoid being asked questions.

After all, the things that I had done were witnessed by everyone.

Even if I wanted to hide it, it would have been impossible to do so since everyone had seen me.

Though it wasn't as if I wanted to hide it.

I certainly would have had my ways to hide it if I wanted, but I wanted to let everyone see me do all of these things.

So when we came back, the first thing that happened was that I was called into a meeting with King Abel XIV.

"Where did you gain these powers?"

The way that he asked this showed the doubt that he had. It was a kind of doubt that he never had shown before, but he couldn't help but show it when I had done something that had never been recorded before.

As far as he knew, the hero shouldn't have a power like this.

So that was why it wasn't just King Abel XIV alone that was worried about this, it was also the church that was worried as they had sent their representatives for this meeting as well.

All of them seemed like they were questioning where I had gained all of this power that I had used against the demons.

But it wasn't as if I wasn't prepared.

I had long been ready for these questions, which was part of the reason that I had shown all of this power in the first place.

With a calm look on my face, I said, "It's all because of the sponsor that I had."

"Sponsor?" King Abel XIV and the church representatives were very confused when they heard this, but at the same time…

I could see the wary look that the church representatives looked at me with and the glances that they exchanged with each other. It really seemed like they were prepared to take action if they deemed that it was necessary.

After all, they didn't want the hero to be corrupted by something that they didn't deem fit for the hero.

But it wasn't anything like that.

With a nod, I said, "I have a childhood friend who sent me a few magic items, which was what I used during this campaign."

After saying this, I pulled out a few magic items that I placed on the table.

King Abel XIV and the people from the church were surprised to see this, but then they came forward to take a closer look at these magic items.

When they looked at it closely, they couldn't help knitting their brows.

They had already figured that the magic items used by me to create those kinds of attacks weren't normal, but this was more than they expected. After all, they could tell from the mana coming from these magic items that these really were anything but normal.

"These kinds of magic items aren't cheap, you're saying that they sponsored you? Who would do something like that when they have nothing to gain from it?" King Abel XIV narrowed his eyes when he said this.

With the way that he said this, it wasn't hard to see how suspicious this was.

I wasn't denying it either since it indeed sounded quite suspicious with the way that I had put it.

But there was one simple thing that I could say to turn this around.

"The one that sponsored me is a close childhood friend, but he's also a merchant that's had a bit of success. That's why he was able to sponsor me with these expensive magic items."

King Abel XIV and the representatives from the church narrowed their eyes once more.

No matter how they looked at it, they didn't seem to like this.

Even if it wasn't the hero being corrupted by some strange power, it wasn't a good thing if the hero were to associate himself with a merchant. It would give off the wrong impression and it would lead the hero down the wrong path.

"Knowing the worries that you would have about this, I have already invited my friend here to meet you all. He is currently waiting in the city and can be called here if you so wish."

King Abel XIV and the representatives from the church were surprised to hear this, but it didn't seem like they were worried about this. Rather, it seemed like they wanted to see who the one that sponsored me was.

So King Abel XIV called his subordinates and they went to pick up the merchant that I was talking about.

When that merchant came in…

"Thank you for granting me the chance to meet you all. My name is Rothchild and I run a small company in the Dire Kingdom."

"Small company? You mean the Grand Shopping Mall?"

"Oh, your majesty has heard of my small company?"

"Ha, ha, ha, if that's called a small company, then I really don't know what a big company is anymore." King Abel XIV was laughing, but the laughter didn't reach his eyes.

It was clear that he was looking at Rothchild as if he was sizing him up, but I didn't say anything to help him.

After all, the main reason for introducing Rothchild like this was just to let King Abel XIV meet him.

A moment of silence passed before King Abel XIV suddenly asked, "Why did you suddenly sponsor him like this?"

Rothchild wasn't surprised by this question, so he calmly looked at King Abel XIV and said, "It's very simple, it's because he is my friend."

It wasn't just King Abel XIV this time, it was also the others that were in this room and the representatives from the church that carefully looked at Rothchild after he said this.

But even then, he had the same calm look on his face.

Another moment of silence passed before King Abel XIV suddenly said with a laugh, "Very good, it seems like I should give you a reward."

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