Chapter 276: It’s Finally Over

"I quit! I’m done! It’s over—o-ver!! This is stupid! Hmph, damn it all! Magic-users were never cut out for this kind of thing from the start. Even if I am a great magician, I only took it because they forced me, and look what happened. Heh, I blew it~~!! Doing this was a complete waste!"

Division Head Hütter raised both hands and poured out complaints. Knight Commander Lothar, the chief referee, walked over. He looked Hütter in the face, then grinned with open pleasure.

"That settles it. Ambassador Marie’s victory."

He took my right hand and raised it high. At last—at last I had won.

A great cheer for my victory... did not rise. Instead, voices of resentment rose from all around.

"This is wrooong—"

"We looost—"

"Why did they lose?"

"Losing to that—what were they doing~"

"Isn’t this fixed?"

Most of it was the bitter complaints of people who had lost their bets. It was like the overwhelming favorite in a horse race losing and the 16th favorite winning. Not just a long-shot ticket—maybe a hundred-thousand-to-one, perhaps even a million-to-one payout.

There were some who apparently hadn’t bet; a few people smiled and waved at me. But others took it as spite from losing money, or as Mainz’s face being crushed by losing to Marie Kingdom.

Rudolf came over.

"Lord Robin, congratulations. I believed in you, but I never thought you would actually win."

No—I was the one who had put Rudolf through so much trouble.

Nearby, Commander Lothar was lecturing Hütter.

"I’ve always told you. No matter how much magical talent you have, close combat happens depending on the opponent. From now on put a little effort into martial arts!"

Hütter only said:

"Hmph!"

and turned his face away. Lothar looked like he couldn’t be happier to be delivering a sermon.

There was something I had to ask those two.

"May I ask—so the commander of House Kirchhoff was Division Head Hütter? It wasn’t Count von Kirchhoff?"

Yes. That. Why hadn’t that man come out? Why wasn’t he here? Had it been decided from the start?

Hütter made a what of it? face.

"That man isn’t suited to this kind of rough work, so I stood in as his proxy."

He said it lightly.

"Eh? Proxies were allowed?"

"No one said they weren’t, and it wasn’t decided. The only one who thought that was your Duke, wasn’t it? I heard they hadn’t settled things down to that level of detail."

When Hütter said that, Lothar added:

"That’s right. I heard the only things that were forbidden were killing people. And maybe fleeing. This was revived after decades, so they couldn’t decide every little point, could they?"

So "both houses fighting with all their strength" had simply been our Duke’s assumption.

Our Duke... I thought he would be happy about my victory, but over there he seemed to have his hands on the ground, head hanging. Had he lost a bet? He hadn’t bet on me, had he? He hadn’t bet on Count von Kirchhoff and lost his stake, had he?

The Count’s garden was so ruined it had no trace of how it had looked before we started. The mansion itself was badly damaged. The part I had broken was only a little. They wouldn’t hold me responsible, right?

A man in steward’s clothes spoke to the disappointed Duke, then came to me.

"Ambassador Robin Marie, I know you must be tired, but a certain high personage has summoned you. I am terribly sorry, but would you come with me?"

Hearing that, Commander Lothar said:

"Lord Marie, you should definitely go. The highest personage in this country is calling. I will go with you."

I couldn’t refuse. I didn’t think they had called me—they had called the winner.

Led by the steward we entered the mansion. The Duke came too. His face was sour. Not a winner’s face at all. His steps were heavy.

We climbed to the third floor and entered a room set back from the rest. Of course His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen were there, along with a great many other people.

"Duke of Vélez, Ambassador Marie, forgive me for calling you when you are tired."

Words of consideration from His Majesty himself. I wanted to make a certain duke drink a decoction of His Majesty’s nail clippings.

That Duke said:

"To receive His Majesty’s own words, my fatigue has flown away."

as if he had been the one who worked hard. Then he turned his face toward me, so I was being prompted to say something.

"Thank you for your words. With His Grace’s assistance I was able to obtain a narrow victory. They say victory is a matter of luck, and that is exactly right—I think it was a paper-thin difference."

His Majesty smiled a little.

"Hoh. Ambassador Marie is more humble than expected. Originally I would like to grant some reward, but today I am here incognito. And praising the winner too much would also be unkind to Count von Kirchhoff. Therefore I will limit myself to this greeting. Ambassador Marie, the Queen has something to say."

I hadn’t been thinking of receiving anything, so that was no problem. What did the Queen want to talk about?

The Queen wore a smile so full the room seemed to brighten.

"Ambassador Robin Marie, congratulations today. You did well. His Majesty says he cannot give you a reward, so I shall give you one myself."

"Eh? From Your Majesty?"

The Duke reacted before I could. His reactions at times like this were faster than anyone’s.

"Yes. I am giving it to Lord Robin Marie personally, so I will not hand it to His Grace the Duke of Vélez!"

She said it with such force I thought I heard a pish! The Duke’s face twitched. The Queen was smiling; His Majesty wore a strained smile.

"Thank you very much. I don’t remember performing that much..."

When I made an obvious show of humility:

"My, ohoho. Your Majesty, did you hear how Lord Marie speaks? A certain duke did nothing at all!"

The Duke’s complexion worsened at the Queen’s wording. After all, she had been turning a gentle smile toward me and in an instant became a demon toward the Duke.

The Queen gave a single kohon cough.

"Yes... shall I give Lord Robin Marie five thousand gold coins? Ufufu."

The room froze in an instant. No one made a sound. His Majesty swallowed with a gokuri.

"Q-Queen... my Queen... are you sane?"

It was a voice that spoke for everyone present.

With a pleasant expression she said firmly:

"Yes, I am sane. I have no hesitation. I am completely serious—neither a lie nor a joke."

"Um, thank you very much. I am very happy, but the amount is so large... haven’t you mistaken the number of digits by one or two?"

The Duke nodded at my question as well.

"No, Lord Marie, that is not it." (The Queen looked around with a composed smile.) "Everyone, you must be wondering why I would give such money? And where that money comes from, yes? Ufufufufu. Changing the subject—Your Grace the Duke of Vélez, you know today’s betting odds. You joined the wager hosted by His Excellency the Prime Minister, didn’t you?"

The Duke wore a face that said Why are you asking me?

"...Yes, I joined. At first Count von Kirchhoff was 1.1 times and Ambassador Marie was 20 times. Even then bets didn’t gather on Ambassador Marie, so in the end I heard Count von Kirchhoff was 1.05 times and Ambassador Marie was 50 times."

"Yes, I heard the same. Then, Your Grace, on whom and how much did you bet?"

"..."

The Duke wore an extremely bitter face and looked down. He would not look at me.

"What is the matter, Your Grace?"

The Queen pressed. Uuuu... the Duke groaned, and at last:

"I bet two thousand gold coins on Count von Kirchhoff."

Everyone present let out a hoooh—!