After the Cyclops for delivery to the royal palace was completed, about a month passed.
The arena, which at some point had begun being used as a practical training ground for golems, was packed with people in formal attire.
At a glance, it looked as though another duel had broken out at the Academy and people had gathered to watch, but the reality was entirely different.
From the moment the flag symbolizing the king had been planted in the arena, this place was no longer a mere dueling ground of the Academy.
After the date was set, the Academy’s professors had taken about two days to decorate the arena lavishly enough that it could have hosted a royal banquet.
And at the highest seat of honor, something like a canopy had been set up, within which Prince Gilford and several others had entered.
Just by looking at the Vespia flag fluttering beside it, it was not difficult to guess the standing of those inside.
Just below and outside it, Noel and Erika sat quietly in formal attire, and around them, every high-ranking noble who could come here had gathered.
Nearby, people in white ceremonial robes who seemed to have been sent by the Church stood in formation, and Mina sat with two other women in splendid clothing.
And below them, all the Academy students had been mobilized, along with nearby residents, filling every last seat.
With the royal guards maintaining strict security, and all the Academy professors lined up in attire symbolizing themselves.
Soon, the arena gates opened, and the Cyclops slowly began to move.
—“So that is the palace’s…”
—“I heard that, at least on the outside, it doesn’t look much different from the Cyclops being sold until now.”
—“They say the inside is different. Apparently, it was built stronger on the assumption that knights would be piloting it…”
As the people murmured among themselves, the Cyclops delivered to the royal palace moved silently.
Its enormous body, engraved on the shoulder with the royal crest to mark it as a possession of the royal family, moved smoothly, and equipment whose designs for mass production had been completed was mounted all over it, operating without the slightest wobble.
Then the entrance on the opposite side opened, and monsters made of illusions came rushing out.
The Cyclops immediately began firing its Rodelini machine gun at the illusory monsters and swinging its axe.
Then, when the illusion of a giant one-eyed ogre appeared, it immediately activated Overload to face it, performed a demonstration by lifting the illusion and hurling it away.
After that, still facing the royal family seated above, it knelt and began to show its respects.
Voices of admiration for the Cyclops’ movements rose from all around, and as the knight who seemed to have been in charge of demonstrating the Cyclops nodded and moved off with his comrades.
Soon, the person standing right beside the royal canopy waved a flag and shouted loudly.
“Aizen Arclight, step forward!”
Immediately, one of the entrances to the arena seating opened, and I walked along the red carpet laid out before me.
I walked down the crimson path in the formal attire Noel and Erika had fitted for me without a single compromise.
On this day, I had been advised not to joke around at all, not to show even a hint of playfulness, and not to speak, so even though it was uncomfortable, I did not let it show and walked obediently.
I followed the red path cut between the spectator seats and slowly began climbing the stairs.
‘So, this was supposed to be a staging meant to show a newly titled noble walking among the existing titled nobles and taking his place at the very end of their ranks, was it…’
Noel had explained all sorts of etiquette and history, but to put it simply, it felt like making a new employee introduce himself in the middle of the office.
They said it was an event where one who had newly received a title walked among the kingdom’s titled nobles, making his face and name known, swore loyalty to the royal family, and the king bestowed the title.
By the time I finally finished walking the entire path, only the splendid canopy remained before me.
Through the gap, I could see the queen, whose face was hidden by a veil, and Gilford, whose somewhat dim-witted face I had honestly grown used to by now.
And in the center, I saw a black-haired man wearing a magnificent crown seated there.
The man, too young to be called middle-aged yet looking as though he had aged several years all at once, gazed at me with a gentle smile.
As I prepared myself with proper decorum, the voice of the court mage serving as the master of ceremonies immediately rang out.
“You, Aizen Arclight, for the merit of creating an entirely new concept never before seen, a piloted golem, and for the merit of using it to greatly strengthen the kingdom’s military power, are hereby officially recognized by the royal palace…”
In truth, contracts and transactions had gone back and forth internally, with many words exchanged, but externally, it seemed it would be recorded as my merit that I had created and offered up the Cyclops of my own accord for the sake of the palace’s military power.
There was some law saying that only patriots could become titled nobles, so I think they had called it a ceremony to prove my patriotism.
In short, my actions were apparently those of a patriotic young noble who had accomplished a deed for the kingdom and thereby earned a title.
If I were to openly say here, “I just made it because I wanted to,” I would have no excuse even if the royal guards drew their swords and charged at me on the spot, so I stayed quiet.
“Therefore, as our great king, His Majesty Danimus Rex Vespia, has acknowledged the merits of Aizen Arclight and is greatly pleased by them, he has decided to bestow upon this young patriot the title of baron. If any object, raise your voice and state your dissent!”
Apparently, those words were, at least nominally, a kind of safeguard meant to tell people to state any crimes the king did not know about.
But of course, that was meaningless.
—“We respect His Majesty’s decision.”
The matter had already been settled from the start.
In other words, it was a staged show.
The etiquette of this kingdom truly had something about it that exhausted people.
Immediately after, several high-ranking nobles rose and offered words of congratulations and praise in a tedious continuation of the ceremony, but in the end, they were all words blessing my future.
—“The Sarath Church likewise declares, through the second saintess on behalf of the god, that it respects the king’s decision.”
A woman who seemed to be of higher rank than Mina stepped forward as the Church’s representative and made the declaration.
—“The Knight Order supports the will of the royal family.”
—“The Academy does the same.”
Several representatives stepped forward in turn to express their support.
Soon, the king rose and began walking forward.
“Your Majesty, what are you…”
“Aizen Arclight, raise your head and look upon Us.”
Since I figured I should do as I was told, I lifted my head.
Though the reaction around me seemed somewhat flustered, which bothered me, it wasn’t as if I had done anything wrong.
As I thought that, King Danimus, who had been looking down at me, quietly opened his mouth.
“You have done your utmost even in poor circumstances and achieved many things. We shall ask only one thing.”
For some reason, I thought his face looked brighter than before.
“Can you promise to devote yourself to this kingdom and continue to advance?”
“I will.”
At my answer, the king smiled in satisfaction.
Then, almost snatching the ceremonial sword held by the attendant beside him, he raised it and shouted.
“I, Danimus Rex Vespia, shall personally proclaim it here and now!”
As the surroundings began to grow slightly noisy.
“In the name of the king, I bestow upon Aizen Arclight the title of baron!”
—“His Majesty is doing it personally…?”
Amid the commotion arising here and there, and as I felt as though the veiled woman inside the canopy was glaring at me fiercely.
Baron Aizen Arclight was born.
****
After the rather tumultuous ceremony ended, I finally changed clothes in the waiting room and came out, where the familiar faces began approaching.
Normally, what would have entered my sight were Noel, always neat and demure with a gentle smile, the lively Erika, and Mina with her unreadable smile. But unlike usual, all three seemed quite surprised as they talked among themselves, then spotted me and hurried over.
Then Noel immediately opened her mouth.
“…That was an extremely unusual occurrence. For His Majesty to personally conclude the ceremony.”
“Is that so uncommon?”
I had no knowledge of this, so I had no idea at all.
Noel nodded and said,
“Originally, His Majesty was not supposed to say a single word. The plan was for the proxy to handle everything, so why…”
Apparently, from a countship onward, a speech by the king was scheduled, but a barony was, in truth, merely being placed at the very bottom of the ranks of named nobles, so there was a sense of, did the king really need to step forward for that?
I didn’t know either, but it seemed something extremely unusual had happened, causing quite an uproar.
“Either way, I think it’s something to celebrate, but…”
“This is going to cause an enormous political ripple.”
“Give me a break.”
I was sick of politics.
Because of the Abatus count family.
Noel seemed to know that exhaustion as well, for she merely nodded.
“In any case, you are now a baron. Congratulations, Baron.”
“You know that, regardless of what my family may be, legally speaking, we should actually be using honorifics with you now, right? Baron?”
“Want me to? Baron?”
“It’s burdensome, so stop.”
When I immediately stopped Mina as she tried to tease me, she merely laughed as well.
As the surroundings remained very noisy, Noel quietly said,
“Then, shall we begin moving as well?”
Noel immediately took out something that looked like a scroll from the bag she was carrying.
I had heard it was an extremely expensive item, but…
“If we stay here, it will surely get noisy with invitations telling us to attend banquets or parties, so let us quietly run away.”
“It feels really strange to hear the word ‘run away’ come out of your mouth, Noel.”
Normally, when political matters arose, Noel was not the type to recommend running away.
But the reason she said so this time was probably because of those people.
“If this were the royal palace, attending would naturally be proper etiquette, but this is the Academy’s arena. In truth, this is little more than a place where people say, ‘It has been a while, so please show your face before you go.’ There is no need to attend.”
Ordinarily, an investiture ceremony should be held at the royal palace, but this time, because there was also a demonstration of the Cyclops to be used by the palace, they had decided to hold it at the Academy rather than the royal palace.
So it seemed there was no absolute need to attend.
“If you were to appear at such a gathering, it would become not a place where you were congratulated, but a place where you were kept in check. I also did not wish to make you suffer unnecessarily, Aizen.”
“…Thanks.”
Noel smiled, and soon Erika and Mina smiled as well.
Then Erika quietly asked,
“It has been a very long time since I last saw a teleport scroll. Even Father tries not to use them if he can help it, even in urgent situations.”
“It was a stroke of luck.”
Noel spoke quietly.
“The destination is the Arclight territory. Of course, not your hometown, Aizen, but the territory you will be receiving.”
“In truth, it isn’t really a territory, just an abandoned region that will be reorganized into a territory this time. It’s only being given the name Arclight territory.”
“Then that means there will be two Arclight territories in the Vespia Kingdom.”
I wondered how such a case could exist, but apparently, it was surprisingly common in this country.
Usually, it happened in cases where relatives fought over the initiative of the family name, refusing to change a name that had been used since long ago in order to claim that they were the legitimate bloodline.
Then, as time passed, one side’s name would change, and until then, people were apparently left to distinguish them appropriately on their own.
“Is this country’s administration all right?”
“They have many things to consider, but basically, they are saying to handle it yourselves. The original Arclight family has no title, and Aizen has now become the head of the Baron Arclight house, right? If your family relations were good, you might have discussed it in advance, but that is not the situation, so they are leaving time to resolve it on its own.”
By my standards, it seemed like it would be confusing, but in truth, administratively, my territory would have “barony” attached to the end, so it could be distinguished after all.
“For now, maybe I’ll call it the New Arclight Territory.”
“Uh… well, I’ll say that is up to the lord.”
Noel smiled ambiguously and let it pass.
Then Mina quietly said,
“The technology demonstrator and your Cyclops have already been moved there in advance. Our luggage, too.”
I had considered just leaving them behind, but since so many outsiders were coming, Mina had been on guard, saying useless people would surely show up.
In any case, there was a factory in the territory, so I had needed to visit it at least once.
The plan was to evacuate while the political noise grew loud.
“It’ll be noisy for a while, so shall we go?”
As I resolved to quietly inspect the factory and do some research for the time being.
“Let’s depart.”
Noel immediately used the scroll, and the bodies of the four of us began to be sucked away somewhere.
****
And a short distance away.
“They are leaving as expected. It seems Duke Nexia was right to judge that the baron might run away without attending anything like a reception.”
“Since Noel was with him, I thought that would be the case, but it truly was so.”
A man with a face full of mischief was moving his subordinate.
Watching Aizen and his companions disappear by teleportation, the man quietly said,
“It looks interesting, so let us follow them.”
“I am the one who will have to suffer, you know.”
As the subordinate moved with an expression that said he had no choice.
“I shall see what you do, Baron Arclight.”
The king of Vespia, Danimus Rex Vespia, began moving in pursuit of Aizen.