Ten years after being reincarnated into this world, the first noble I encountered was none other than the king! In my previous world, I had only known nobles from TV shows or books. To put how I felt honestly,
(Ah, this seems annoying⦠can I get out of hereā¦)
āMost importantly, there were no injuries. Well then, I should get going.ā
And with that, I turned around and started to leave.
āHey now, wait a minute.ā
The king grabbed my shoulder from behind!
Although the king was smiling quite hard, it somehow felt like he really wanted to say, āYou seem quite interesting, so donāt run away!ā
He was clearly giving me a warning.
āIām really sorry King, but my mother will worry if I donāt go home quickly.ā
āWhat? I will have a word with your mother. An apology from the king himself should clear up any objections.ā
The king was scary. Although he was beaming, he wasnāt smiling with his eyes at all. Also, his tone of voice had changed considerably.
A person standing in the back, a woman with chestnut colored hair reaching halfway down her back, seemed to sense my feelings. She gently placed her hand on the kingās shoulder.
āPlease give it up. When itās like this, His Majesty wonāt stop.ā she said.
The king heard this and replied,
āYou know me too well!ā
and laughed heartilyā¦so heartily that tears spilled out.
āYour Majesty, please calm down. Youāre bothering the boy.ā
āThatās right, Your Majesty. He has saved our lives after all, so bothering him is rude.ā
First spoke a man resembling a bandit, with short brown hair and a bandana wrapped around his head, followed by a cool looking man with blonde, silky hair.
āI know, I know! Come to think of it, I havenāt mentioned my name yet. I am Alex von Bloomel Klostin, the King of this country. You may refer to me as you like.ā
[TN: the royal We is completely dropped, and he speaks quite plainly]
Because he said so, I suddenly burst out,
āWell then⦠uncle?ā
I had been taken in by the kingās way of speaking. Everyone, save for me and the king, tensed up after hearing the words that I suddenly blurted out.
āAhahaha, you really do say interesting things, boy! I like you! Itās been quite some time since someoneās hit me, of all people, with such casual words!ā
It seems that heās taken a liking to me.
āI apologize. Using those words was a bit much, Your Highness.ā
I said, apologizing first. Just as I expected, calling him uncle is unacceptable.
āEven if itās uncle, I donāt mind?ā
I apologize from the bottom of my heart, so please forgive me unclā ā¦king.
āUse something worthy of a king, please.ā
A man who hadnāt spoken yet chimed in,
(Iāve been saved! )
āNo matter how you look at it, not even a drunk child would call our current king āuncleā! The nerve of this boy to refer to him like that, I wonāt stand for it! If heās a king, treat him with the respect he deserves, please! How terrible⦠Isnāt that right, boy!?ā
(ā¦Iāve not been saved in the slightest.)
The waves of verbal assault seemed to hurt even the king. Although, he seems to have held up despite it. Somehow, Iām glad heās able to do so. Heās stopped without going into the typical āOh enough you guys, the life of a king doesnāt make me special~ā
āAs usual, His Majesty always, always gets carried away, so it falls to me to set things straight afterwards. Are you listening, Your Majesty?!ā
Whaat, itās still not over yetttttt! Just how long will these verbal attacks continue?
āāThatās quite enough for today, donāt you think? Even considering Edgar-samaās misstep earlier, we should forgive him.ā
Heās cutting him short!
āOh, I havenāt introduced myself just yet. I am named Cruyff Sebas Tian. I serve as Grand Chamberlain to the royal family. Pleased to make your acquaintance.ā
āMy name is Edgar von Valentine. Thank you very much for earlier.ā
The man who was needling the king earlier was his butler? Or should I say the butler was named Sebastian?
āAh, Sebas Tian is a name that has been inherited by the Grand Chamberlain for generations.ā
What, he can read minds?!
āI cannot read minds, but due to my profession I am exceptionally strong at reading thoughts based on facial expressions.ā
This guy is an amazing butler!
āIām John Jack Bauer. You really saved us back there!ā
That name is suspiciously similar to the main character of a drama with stories completed in 24 hours. By the way, in this world, one day has 24 hours, one month 30 days, and there are 12 months a year, making 360 days total.
āI am Sigurd. For saving us earlier, I thank you. I apologize for that business from before, too. Even though you saved us from such a dangerous situation, I turned my sword on youā¦ā
āThank you for saving us while we were in distress. Iām Kris, itās nice to finally meet you. Also, those⦠things over there that appeared, could you do something about them?ā
The woman named Kris spoke apologetically, pointing at the golems.
āOh right, yeah, I can. Good work golems, now release!ā
As I said so, the golems melted into the ground and vanished, leaving behind only the magic stones.
āGolems? Being able to use them here was truly wonderful. Might I ask for your name?ā
Cruyff politely asked while I collected the magic stones,
āIām Tenma. I live in Kukuri Village, a little ways from here.ā
āOh, Kukuri Village, what a coincidence! We had some business there and were heading that way as well.ā
The king seemed invigorated and suddenly rejoined the conversation,
āOkay! Onwards to Kukuri Village! Cruyff! Thereās nothing wrong with either the horses or the coach, is there?ā
āYes, Your Majesty. During the conversation about how best to address Your Highness, I took the liberty of confirming their condition.ā
āI, I see⦠Well, a-anyways, we depart for Kukuri Village! Come on, everyone aboard the coach, quickly!ā
The king who suddenly seemed energetic for some reason urged everyone along.
āHey, Tenma hurry up and get in!ā
(Riding together with the king seems annoying and time consumingā¦)
āNo thanks, I can use my magic to fly, so Iāll go on ahead.ā
As I said so, I tried to activate my magic. But when I turned around, I was grabbed by the shoulder again.
āDonāt tell me you donāt want to come with us, Tenma. Iām making a generous offer, so we should go together. Why, these two horses have been selected as the best among the royal stock! Two fine specimens of speed and power. Furthermore, weāve specially trained them, so compared to ordinary horses theyāre remarkably fast!ā
Flying would be even faster⦠But I wonāt bring that up. Thereās no way I could win against the enthusiastic king, who was giving a thumbs up while talking to me.
[Authorās Note]
The kingās character has changed considerably. It seemed easy to get stuck while writing for him later on, so I changed the character.
Just last time I had written that the series had surpassed 100 bookmarks, but this time itās gone past 200.
Everyone, thank you very much.
[Translatorās Note]
Thank you for reading this far! I didnāt expect this much interest this quickly, so I āve been scrambling to quickly organize things better in the background.
Iām going to try to release 2 chapters a week, Mondays and Thursdays. Iāll see if I can keep this pace up when the chapters become longer (twice as long!) from chapter 2 onwards.
Iāve also set up a discord server for Four Slimes, which you can , there is also a link in the sidebar (at the very bottom if on mobile). Iāve uploaded some of the novelās art there, very helpful for visualizing the many characters introduced this chapter. If you have questions, corrections or just would like to chat, either with fellow readers or myself (Refulgent) feel free to drop by!