Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter

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Well, the dinner banquet is progressing smoothly.

The ceremony was going perfectly until the First Prince Saku, who had just been elevated to the position of Crown Prince, announced his engagement to Rio, who was supposedly his half-sister, but even so, the event was proceeding smoothly.

Rio and Saku both looked happy, and the king seemed to be satisfied. The bulk of the nobles present at the event gave them an inevitable look, while the others watched them with eyes that revealed more subdued feelings. Those who were observing them with subdued emotions were likely those who intended to marry off their daughters or nieces to the prince.

If anything went awry, the king and his men would take care of it, so it was none of Pumpkin’s business.

Suit yourself.

“Ah, the wine tastes good…”

Putting a root in his wine glass and sucking up the wine, Pumpkin scanned the entire hall.

In addition to the Humans, Elves, Birdmen, Lizardmen, and Dwarves who were also present at Kunukihappy, there were also individuals with the appearance of beasts such as the king, people with dark and slimy skin, individuals with ears that looked very plump, as well as individuals with a white horn protruding from their foreheads.

They must have been nobles, knights, or people of a similar status as they were all dressed in quite upscale attire.

Furthermore, it was challenging to determine the soldiers’ race because practically all of them were donning full body armor.

“The range of races in this world is enormous…”

Pumpkin couldn’t help but utter an impression as he regarded the individuals in the hall.

Well, I suppose I can be treated as one of the rare races if we are talking about rare races.

Pumpkin, who had previously only experienced a world ruled by a single race, was nonetheless astounded that there were so many different races.

One thing, though, continued to bother him.

Why did the king, the father of Saku and Rio, who were supposed to be Human, have ears of a beast?

After all, as far as the world he had seen so far, the parents of Humans were always Humans, the parents of Elves were always Elves, and the parents of Lizardmen were always Lizardmen.

Well, it may be possible to have children of different races if they are close in appearance, but somehow I don’t think that is the case.

“Uh, I wonder where the Count is?”

He thus sought out Count Kunuki to learn more about the situation.

Pumpkin was sure that Count Kunuki would know the circumstances of the situation.

“Oh, there he is.”

“Count Strawn’s command was really brilliant…”

“The reconstruction is also progressing well, thanks to Marquis Madosa…”

“Viscount Harbeth’s support was also excellent…”

He then spotted Count Kunuki talking to a gathering of people and went over to him.

Pumpkin, however, did not speak to him directly; he merely approached him. There was a good chance that the person Count Kunuki was speaking to was a count of the same rank or someone who was near to it, or at the very least an aristocracy. He wouldn’t want to interrupt and disrupt the discourse.

“Oh, excuse me. It seems that someone I know is here.”

“Ah, so you are the dragon-slaying sorcerer I’ve heard so much about.”

“You have done a remarkable job in rescuing the concubines and dealing with the mastermind of the coup d’état.”

“Well, I am truly grateful to have such a powerful individual as yourself on our side.”

“Ah, yes. Thank you very much.”

Pumpkin replied with a lowered head and as low a stance as he could manage.

As he was answering in this manner, Count Kunuki came to his side and shouted for everyone to hear.

“By the way, you have something you wanted to talk to me about, don’t you?”

“Ah, yes. I wanted to ask you something.”

“Hmm. In that case, please excuse me, but I’d like to leave with him.”

“Right. I think that would be good because there are some things you don’t want other people to hear.”

“Well, shall we take our leave?”

“I beg your pardon.”

The other nobility withdrew to the opposite side as Count Kunuki and Pumpkin walked in the direction of the vacant balcony.

“Now, it seems you have something you wish to ask me, is something the matter?”

“Ah, yes. I’d like to ask you something about His Majesty…”

When they arrived at the balcony, Pumpkin began to inquire.

Count Kunuki cast his face down and thought about something before staring at his face after hearing his question.

“You are a reincarnated person, aren’t you? In your memory, there was no one like His Majesty, was there?”

“As far as I remember, there was no such person.”

“Hmm. No wonder you have doubts then…”

Count Kunuki glanced at the king once after nodding his head in agreement with the response.

But rather than considering whether or not to discuss it, he seemed to be considering how to do so.

Perhaps it is common knowledge for people in this world… Well, if I don’t know something, I should just ask.

“I understand. I’ll tell you. His Majesty’s ears are… simply put, they are ancestral return.”

“Ancestral return?”

“Oh, yeah. Perhaps because some of our ancestors had such a trait, some of us Humans sometimes appear with a beastly appearance like His Majesty… though that being said, there may be only one in a major city at a time. Such people are called ‘beaster,’ and they frequently distinguished from Humans by having more physical prowess and magic power.”

“I see.”

High physical ability and magic power… Well, I think Uriko is better than me when it comes to magic power, but it would be tactless to compare Uriko with other people.

To avoid being overheard by anyone nearby, Count Kunuki drew closer to Pumpkin and began to whisper.

“And by the way, as you can see from the number of children His Majesty has, Beaster has a stronger sex drive than Human.”

“…I can kind of understand that too…”

Pumpkin nodded in agreement with what was said after that.

In fact, he has too many children, doesn’t he?

“Oh, and please keep this talk of sexual drive to yourself. It’s well known among the nobility though…”

“I know that.”

The banquet eventually began to wind down, and Pumpkin made the decision to leave accordingly.

As I recall, I should be receiving my reward tomorrow, so I’ll have to leave as soon as I receive it… I spent more time than I anticipated.