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By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 7 - Chapter SS2




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The Grown-ups in their Secret Meeting

While Ryoma was rushing to finish preparations for the wedding, the duke and duchess, as well as the two members of the trading company, had congregated within a room in the duke’s manor to discuss Ryoma’s future.

“For the most part, we’ll carry on the same as we have been. We’ll be there to support him if something happens, but we’ll need to be more careful,” the duchess started.

“Luckily, most merchants see Ryoma as a kid who got some lucky breaks—finding rare slimes, us taking a liking to him... They pay more attention to the slimes and his connections than Ryoma himself.”

“Really?” The duke asked.

“Pioro simplified it a bit, but Master Ryoma has no known background prior to meeting the Duke. No experience working at any shop or company. Anyone who were to research him would find that there is no record of him learning the trade in any way; this would naturally lead to them underestimating Master Ryoma’s business prowess.”

“Stop beating around the bush already. No one’s going to expect a kid with zero experience in business to run a shop. On top of that, you help him out with building the store, Serge, then hand your own people off to him to help him run the place. And this is Ryoma’s prerogative, but he’s not present at the shop as much when he’s out adventuring. Seems to me like Ryoma’s the store mascot masquerading as the shopkeep, doing exactly what you tell him to do. That’s the image you wanted to send, right? That’s why you told Ryoma to set up shop right away. No need to mince words with us.”

“Then why make me sound like some conniving knave...?”

The duke and duchess shared an awkward look.

“Serge’s name keeps things calm on the frontlines... I feel quite sorry that his shop isn’t being fairly judged by its patrons, though,” the duke commented.

“Given how much dangerous information he’s carrying, the less interest people have in the place, the better,” the duchess countered.

“Ryoma himself isn’t really... Well, he just laughed it off, saying it was a fair assessment. No need to be overly concerned about it.”

“Wait a minute, Pioro. You told Ryoma?!”


“Uh, just a bit, when we met him at the inn. He had some prying eyes on him then, didn’t he? He was starting to catch on, so I eased him into it.” Pioro went on to explain that Ryoma had indeed laughed about it, making the crowd lose interest by determining Ryoma to be unworthy of any further attention.

The other three looked unconvinced, so he continued, “If I may. Of course we won’t stop caring for Ryoma, but aren’t we being somewhat overprotective? He’s being cautious as well, and he knows whom to share crucial information with, as well as who not to. I don’t know what went down in the past, but he’s not so feeble that he’d crumble in the face of a little negative feedback.”

After a few moment’s silence, Reinhart spoke. “You’re right. We are being overly... Well, selfish.”

“Trouble in noble society, I presume...?”

Reinhart nodded in response to Serge’s suggestion. “We try not to show it. Everyone’s eager to ask about Father. They can’t take drastic action while my father’s still alive, even if he’s retired. He had given me the dukedom early to prepare me for what’s to come. There is a part of me which understands all too well that Ryoma’s knowledge and research can be used to great effect on that front.”

“Well, we are nobles. We’re nothing if not slaves to that line of thinking.”

“I can’t deny how aware I am of how helping Ryoma will benefit me,” Pioro admitted.

The four of them shared a chuckle.

“Very well. I say that the four of us should maintain a relationship of mutual kindness and assistance with Ryoma.”

“I concur. If he ever needs anything, we should ensure that he won’t hesitate to come to us.”

“He seems eager to help us already,” Serge chimed in.

“He’s the one who mentioned it, so I, for one, welcome it with...” Pioro trailed off, garnering the eyes of the remaining three. “Well, I can’t help thinking that he’d happily help us and come up with something we haven’t even imagined...”

“That seems likely.”

“I can see it happening... He always does more than we ask him to.”

“Perhaps that’s why we’re excluding him from this conversation.”

The four shared another friendly but uncertain laugh, then continued their conversation as if nothing out of the ordinary had been mentioned...



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