"Thank you for your hard work." 

I greeted Marsen with the sword broken in half. It was decided that the spar was my loss because my practice sword broke in half. In fact, even if the sword did not break, I would have lost in the end because I was overwhelmingly lagging in swordsmanship.

Marsen smiled refreshingly, putting the scratched-up practice iron sword over his shoulder. "Thanks for putting up with my compulsion. It's surprisingly fun to spar with just pure swordsmanship without using any mana."

He stretched as if he had warmed up after a long time.

"By the way, did you learn swordsmanship from that Weger kid? It's Weger's swordsmanship style, the way you pretend to do some technique but overpower with strength," he asked in the empire’s language.

I nodded and answered in the same tongue, "Yes, although he is a little too old to be called a kid now.”

"Oh, is that so? Well, it's already been a while. Maybe I should stop by Olympus sometime.”

After the spar, Marsen and I put the swords back where they were, and the Fairies who were watching gathered around me.

"Are all the empire’s interpreters this good at swordsmanship?"

"Even though mana wasn’t used, it's the first time I've ever seen a match so even against Marsen-nim!"

“Please spar with me next time!” 

“No, with me!”

It was Marsen who stopped the sudden influx of Fairies.

"You guys! You’re putting Den in a tough spot! Shoo! Shoo!” Marsen waved his hand like chasing away flies.

The fairy knights complained.

"Booo! How can Marsen-nim try to monopolize Mr. Interpreter?”

"Let us spar, too!”

Seeing them gathering around, asking to spar, it felt as if I had come back to my hometown. I gave a dry cough and calmed the knights down. "Hmmhmm! I know a little swordsmanship, but my mana is nothing much, so it's too much to fight one after another."

The Fairy knights exclaimed regretfully.

Mana was like stamina, so no matter how good your skills were, it was impossible to fight back to back if you lacked mana. Of course, that wasn't the case with me. 

Marsen looked at me as I lied thick-faced but lightly ignored me.

"And my skills are still low. It's because Marsen-nim went easy on me, but if he had not, I would have lost in one blow."

"No, I didn’t go ea-, ugh!"

I stepped on Marsen's foot, who was being tactless.

"It's almost dinner time, so we should get ready for dinner," I said.

Then, Marsen spoke to me as if he had suddenly remembered, "Oh, come to think of it, Palamut wants you to teach him the table manners of the empire, so let's have dinner together."

"Could you’ve at least told me that before the spar?”

I was going to wash up after dinner, but I had to wash up right now because of the sweat from sparring.

"Ahahaha! Sorry."

I asked as I unwrapped the collar of my sweat-sticking Adventurers’ Guild uniform, "Where is the shower room?"

"The men's shower room is on the first floor, at the end of the hallway on the right," one of the Fairy knights answered.

It was a good thing that I carried an extra uniform in my pocket space. Of course, I did have a high-end suit that could perfectly replace the uniform that Duke Asteria had bought me a few months ago when we visited the capital for the state conference.

Tomorrow, I had to enter the palace as an interpreter, but I was reluctant to wear plain clothes for official duties.

"Come on, let's all go up!" Marsen said.

The gathered Fairy knights went up to the first floor with disappointment.

Marsen whispered to me when he saw his subordinates going up, "Later, let's use mana and magic to spar with all our might.”

He said so unilaterally and went up first while humming happily.

I followed with a scoff.

-o-

Arcanta looked at the documents, busier than ever. "I didn't think the level of interpreters who know how to speak the Fairy Tribe language would be so horrible." He sighed.

William, who was sipping tea next to him, shrugged. "Well, the level of difficulty of the Fairy Tribe language is too high. The fact that there was almost no trade between our countries also played a part.”

The prime minister snorted at the excuses on behalf of the interpreters.

"But isn't it a problem that interpreters who are paid by the country's taxes have the vocabulary of a child? I'm going to fire them all.”

While the matter was brought up, Arcanta ordered the interpreters to be demoted far away to the provinces. Interpreters were also civil servants, so they could not be fired easily.

Having received the instructions, the deputy drafted and sent documents to the personnel manager of the Central Ceremony Department.

"I'm telling you, when I met Khan of the Fairy Tribe, I was stunned by the interpretations. I was lucky to have you there,” said Arcanta and sighed.

William spoke as if it were nothing, "I wasn't that good at speaking in the Fairy Tribe language either. It's too hard. Oh, by the way, didn't you say that Mr. Glont's subordinate went to the Fairy Tribe embassy as an interpreter?"

Arcanta nodded.  "I heard that the Guardian Knight of the Fairy Tribe took him with him, saying that he was better at Fairy Tribe language than he was. Was his name Den?"

Arcanta recalled Den, who was a boarder in a boarding house run by his mother as a hobby.

"Huh? The one who went as the interpreter is Den?" William was surprised.

Arcanta wondered then recalled the relationship between the two. "Oh, he’s your nephew's friend. I heard you've met him a few times?”

“Yeah. I’ve met him a few times because my father was quite interested in him."

"If it's your father, the Great Elder-nim?" Arcanta was astonished.

William sipped the cold tea and replied, "My father says he's a talented but a rude brat, so he occasionally meets to teach him."

The truth was that he wanted to meet for the research on the Holy Tribe’s magic but William didn't know.

"If Great Elder-nim says he's talented, does that mean he’ll become a madosa later?"

Arcanta was sullen to have had him taken away by the Adventurers’ Guild. He would have been very useful if he had brought him to the treasury office and raised him directly, but what a shame.

Seeing him assisting Duke Asteria at the side at every state conference gave him a rough idea.

Should I steal him away?

He couldn't help but get greedy considering that he was good at document processing, accounting skills, and fluent in Fairy Tribe language, which would play an important role in magic in the future.

Arcanta muttered to himself, licking his lips, but William smiled bitterly.

"Haha, perhaps, but it’s more likely because of Yuria. It was like that when I was a kid too, but my father doesn't restrain himself when it’s related to the family."

In William’s eyes, he was a polite boy who couldn’t be politer and was Yuria’s friend. However, in the eyes of his father, he seemed to be a shameless person who wanted to take away his granddaughter. He was proud of and respected his father, but honestly, he was also embarrassed by that side of his father.

"Hahahaha, he certainly was like that two years ago when we were here for the currency reform." Arcanta laughed.

William became embarrassed, sighed, and changed the subject. "By the way, I don’t see Bloody. Where did he go?"

Arcanta dropped the document he was checking with a serious face. "Bloody went to capture Capricorn.”

William was taken aback. "By Capricorn, you mean the Hunter Tribe warrior from Operation Spider Trap eight years ago?”

"Yes, a woman who is the head of the Big Mama Information Agency headquarters has handed over circumstantial evidence to Bloody that Capricorn has entered the capital."

"That's why he’s tracking Capricorn alone? What about the seal?”

Bloody’s strength was half sealed by the noble faction to be kept in check. As William worried, Arcanta smiled.

"I've given him a tool to temporarily unlock the seal.”

Originally, it was an act that could come under criticism by the noble faction, but it had to be done because they had to succeed in the exchange with the Fairy Tribe.

"It's essential to join hands with the Fairy Tribe to prevent war.”

The Kingdom and the Trade Union, who had allied with the Hunter Tribe, were secretly preparing for war against the empire. Likewise, the empire was preparing for war, but war was expensive and they did not want to waste as much money as possible.

If the talks with the Fairy Tribe went well and the alliance, successful, not only would the empire not have to go to war but could also implement foreign policies to pressure them without fighting. 

"But still, wouldn’t it be dangerous going alone?” William voiced his concern.

Arcanta shrugged. "Well, since it’s Bloody, there shouldn’t be a problem. Is he the type to get hurt?"

"No, I'm not worried about him getting hurt, rather if the surroundings will be okay. Have you forgotten the noble street that Bloody destroyed when he was unsealed eight years ago?"

Arcanta's face turned pale when he realized William was asking if it was okay to not have someone go who could stop Bloody.

"Do... Do I have to send someone?"

"I recommend you do.”

There was no need to worry about the safety of the Fairy Tribe as long as the Guardian Knight Marsen was there. However, who would ensure the safety of the capital where an unbridled Bloody might run wild? Arcanta stared into the air and avoided reality.

"General Glont's subordinate’s role as an interpreter will be important.” He said things that didn't match the flow of the conversation and decided to tackle the things that were bad for his stomach later.

However, 24 hours later, Arcanta regretted that he didn’t tackle the issue immediately.

-o-

It's been a day since I was brought in as an interpreter.

Dinner was of course, but breakfast also had to be with Palamut to teach imperial court etiquette and table manners. In addition, after he heard that I had sparred with Marsen the previous night, I also had to do a simple spar with him at his request.

At Marsen's behest, I went easy and lost on purpose, but Palamut was quick-witted and threw a tantrum so I had to fight him again multiple times.

"I apologize for that. I'm sorry."

On our way to the palace, Marsen apologized to me for having to continue to spar with Palamut.

"I don't accept purely verbal apologies."

At my blunt words, Marsen laughed cheerfully.

"Ahhahaha! All right. Regardless of what and when I'll do you one favor." 

“Lord Guardian!”

Marsen's aide-de-camp Ophelia was surprised and tried to stop him, but I grabbed his hand before he could take back his words.

"Sounds good. A man never goes back on his word." 

"Of course!" Marsen smiled cheerfully and nodded gladly.

Ophelia frowned as if she was getting a headache.

Finally, the carriage, which entered the inner palace, stopped in front of the building and an imperial servant came out to meet the carriage.

"I will guide you from here on out. It would be appreciated if the knights could come down from their horses."

Without my need to interpret, the servant spoke skillfully in the Fairy Tribe language.

"If there was someone who could speak the Fairy Tribe language this well, shouldn't I not be here?" I asked.

Marsen scratched his cheek. "Yeah, that's weird. Palamut said there was no one who could speak the Fairy Tribe language."

He then ordered the knights to dismount at the servant’s request, and the Fairy knights carried out the order in unison.

"Only selected people can be armed within the imperial palace, so those armed, please go to the left. Those unarmed, please follow me." said the servant.

Marsen and the Fairy knights, who were armed, went to the left. I wasn’t, so I stood by Palamut's side.

Then the servant approached me and apologized. "You're an interpreter, aren't you? I'm sorry, but could you go over there and help them with the disarming? I'm the only one who can speak the Fairy Tribe language, and I've been ordered to assist Khan Palamut."

At the request of the servant, I delivered the servant’s words directly to Palamut.

Palamut readily nodded and said yes. "Go ahead. Godfather can speak the empire’s language, but he doesn’t know of the empire’s etiquette."

Certainly, I did give Palamut a quick rundown on the etiquette, but Marsen just slept like a log. I felt a bit uncomfortable, but Palamut told me to go, so I headed in the direction Marsen went.

"Huh? Why are you coming this way?" 

At Marsen's question, I said the truth and he smiled cheerfully putting his arms on my shoulders. I chatted with him and went the direction as we were told to, but no servant appeared to assist in disarming.

"Hmm, this is strange."

"What?"

I was going to tell Marsen what the strange part was, but then, a servant bleeding from his stomach quickly walked towards us quickly from afar.

"Trouble, big trouble! Fake servant, cough! The Khan... of the Fairy Tribe!"

No one could understand anything except me and Marsen because he spoke in the empire’s language. But seeing the bloody servant, everyone froze.

After understanding the servant’s words, Marsen exhaled killing intent and pulled out his sword.

"Khan is in danger!"

He pulled out a sword and ran to the place where he split ways with Palamut.

But there was no Palamut, only the unarmed Fairy envoys laid out on the floor covered in blood.