Nina led Axel to a certain room, where a complicated formation was drawn across the floor—a magic circle that spanned roughly ten meters across. It was similar to, but quite different from, the one they used before.

"This way."

Nina stood in the middle of it, with Axel curiously tagging along right behind her.

He watched carefully as the runes drawn began to glow a bright red, blinding enough that he had to close his eyes.

When the light faded, he was no longer in the frontline fortress, but rather inside another closed room. A giant dome, with hundreds of other magic circles of similar make scattered around.

The witches who seemed to be keeping watch over all these formations quickly bowed their heads low when Nina appeared. This kind of behavior was excused while on the frontline, but seeing that they were paying extra careful attention to showing respect…

"So we're in the castle already?" Axel muttered.

Nina's movements were quite fast, so Axel needed to skip a few steps to catch up.

As soon as they got out of the large dome, he saw the familiar make of the pathway and was convinced. They had truly arrived at the Hallbach Queendom's castle!

The two continued onward, with all the other witches or servants they met bowing respectfully. Of course, after they passed, the said witches began chatting with each other, specifically regarding the "new face" that was Axel behind her.

"Is this perhaps…"

"It could be! So the princess finally…!"

"No, wait. Isn't that the man that the third princess…"

"Isn't this a bloodbath…? Between sisters?!"

Although Axel heard some foreboding words from them, making him worry, he acted as if he didn't hear shit. Rumors die as soon as they come… he hoped.

Of course, if Axel could hear them, Nina could too. Her expression remained firm, but the guilt budding in her heart was starting to eat her alive. She gently bit her lip, holding back the dark emotions rising.

'I… am not worthy…'

Thankfully, they arrived at the throne room quickly.

With the hallways looking even more familiar, as Axel had walked through them before, he started to calm down.

The gears in his mind turned, shifting into business mode in a snap. When they reached the closed door leading into the throne room, Nina stepped ahead and raised her voice.

"Second Princess Nina Hallbach and Sir Axel Walker. We have come to have an audience with the Queen!"

A few moments of silence followed.

Then, as if responding to her voice, the large doors began to swing inward, opening.

Inside, it looked the same as Axel remembered. However, now there were even more witches standing on guard. The number of ministers standing behind Queen Witcheria, seated on the throne, had similarly increased.

"You've come, my daughter… my son." Queen Wisteria greeted them in a serious tone, setting the mood. "I've heard you have something to tell me. Speak." She immediately urged Axel on.

Judging from her words, she was hinting that even if they were family, she would judge things fairly through the eyes of a leader.

'So no beating around the bush?'

Axel paused for a millisecond, thinking.

The fact that she wasn't wasting time on idle talk was proof enough that reviving one of the three frontline fortresses was a great achievement—enough that Witcheria seemed to have regained its liveliness for once.

This meant he, too, could ride on this wave and expect good rewards.

"Queen Mother, I have naught but one request: compensation!" he claimed as he knelt on one knee, showing respect toward the Queendom's monarch.

"Compensation?"

Wisteria raised a brow before nodding.

"I did hear you helped the frontlines greatly—repairing hundreds of fortresses, helping our soldiers with provision, and even managing to take back one of the three great fortresses and repair it."

She praised him, showing a thin smile.

"Compensation, of course, we shall provide. Speak of your wishes, and I shall accommodate them to the best of our capabilities."

"Thank you, Your Highness." Axel took a deep breath and then went for broke. "Then, I ask for compensation for the repaired fortresses. A total of sixty billion Colts!"

He not only doubled the expenses he had, but even specified that it was only for the "repaired" ones. That meant payment for the remaining two unfixed fortresses was still up for negotiation!

Wisteria frowned, raising her brow in scrutiny.

She couldn't read what was on Axel's mind… nor could she figure out why he was asking for a compensation so "cheap."

As a frontline dimension fighting against the Demon Invasion, Witcheria was no poor place.

However, due to their endless battle, ninety-nine percent of their budget was assigned to the frontlines. Things like consumables, equipment, and reparations to the families of fallen witches all fell under that budget allocation.

In fact, just to keep the frontlines running, they spent about five trillion Colts per year!

The smaller fortresses he fixed had a value of a billion, while the major fortress is at least five hundred billion… No matter what, sixty billion for compensation is too small! she thought.

Of course, Axel had no idea about this.

He thought that, with something worth a few million being treated as a "Royal Treasure"-level item, Witcheria didn't have much funds on hand. Thus, sixty billion was already pushing it too far, in his opinion.

'Could it be…' Wisteria then realized Axel's "intentions."

'Is he lowering the price since we're now family? Being watchful of our financial situation?'

True—if he asked for the real repair prices, then their funds would fall below acceptable levels. In that case, they would have to pull back the frontline they worked so hard on retaking!

Wisteria felt touched by Axel's consideration, enough that her eyes teared up.

"…!"

And Axel, seeing her tears, realized that he messed up. 'As expected, is sixty billion still too much?!'

Taking a deep breath to steady his voice, he continued, interrupting the silence.

"Your Majesty, let me requote the price to be fair," he said. "Forty billion is fine."

"Son…!"

Wisteria once again thought he was looking out for them and almost wanted to jump out of the throne to pull Axel into a tight embrace. However, she still had her dignity as a queen to uphold, so she quickly fixed her posture and responded.

"No need. Sixty billion Colts, it is." She smiled from the bottom of her heart. "Head of Treasury, please hand over sixty billion to my son, now."

"Y-yes, Your Majesty!"

The Head of Treasury rushed forward, reaching Axel's side in moments. Then, she passed Axel a small slip—a check. On it, the amount of sixty billion was written in bold letters.

Of course, the Head of Treasury, aware of all financial expenses of the entire dimension, similarly felt amazed by how deep Axel's vessel was. After all, in her eyes, he seemed willing to ask for a mere sixty billion when he was entitled to claim even ten times that amount!

A man among men!

"T-thank you, Your Majesty…"

Axel, however, felt confused.

He couldn't tell why they had just given it to him when their financial situation didn't seem so good. However, they refused his offer to lower the price, so in the end, he could only accept it as it was.

'Well, money is money,' he thought. 'And I profited quite a bit from this already!'

Little did he know that this small misunderstanding would soon lead to him gaining the title of "Saint."

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