"Dear Baron Noah Odir,

With great honour and profound respect, I, King Lazarus of Haldor, extend to you a formal invitation to our Royal Court. It has come to my attention that you have achieved a feat of remarkable bravery and skill, one that will be etched in the annals of our history for generations to come.

Your successful subjugation of the Leviathan, a fearsome and legendary beast from faraway lands, is a testament to your courage, leadership, and unparalleled prowess—nothing short of what one could expect from Noah, the hero of great valor. It is only fitting that such a monumental achievement be recognized by the Crown.

In light of this, we wish to officially acknowledge your remarkable victory and the prosperity it brings to our kingdom, as the Leviathan's remains are a treasure trove of untold value. Your actions have not only brought wealth to our lands but would certainly also secure the safety and admiration of your people.

Therefore, it is with great pleasure that a Royal Ceremony shall be held in your honour at the Royal Palace in no less than a year. At this grand event, you shall be publicly recognised for your extraordinary accomplishment and bestowed with the honours befitting a hero of your stature."

'I see. Basically, I have a year to grow my territory large enough to justify asking for a duchy during my audience with the king, at which point I'll be granted an audience with the spirit queen upon request?'

For anyone else, this was a tall task. In the first place, a year was a timeframe that was given due to travel to the capital usually taking a few months. Of course, they could travel via the Sixth Circle - Sonic Flight, but it would be considered a breach of etiquette to show up in a mode of transport that was not a carriage when travelling to the crown. Noah, however, could just fly in his wyvern form and transport his carriage on his back, only getting into the carriage when he was close by. Which was why he had the full year to grow his territory from one rivalling a barony to that of a duchy. Still, it wasn't a lot of time.

'It's not like it would be impossible, just difficult. As the man who's killed the leviathan, I'd obviously be able to sell the remains internally to get on good terms with Halador's upper class, but I'll also be able to sell items to external nations for profit. The Ebonreach kingdom is in perpetual need of leviathan scales for their elites, for example. I could also keep some scales to build up a proper army that a duchy's would need to have, though I'll have to be careful of having too much military power and scaring the crown. There's also profit from the meat of the leviathan, which nobles would be tripping over themselves to get, making gems, profiting off knowledge of market movements, and…'

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As Noah zoned out to think about what he could do with his hand on his chin, Ariel and Cedric generously shooed the messenger out, sparing Noah the trouble.

Noah had initially wanted to keep his accomplishment with the leviathan hidden and only reveal it to the crown, but he realised now that things could go a lot smoother if the public was aware. After all, combat prowess was a priority for leaders on the Calysta continent. Even if his former merit as a hero was more than good enough to be a duke, being known to be active even after his defeat to the Demon Lord would only do him good. He could also accumulate even more merit while increasing his strength, as he dearly wished to.

Namely, there were certain monsters he still had not killed yet, such as dragons or krakens, that he planned to assimilate into his repertoire of monsters. They were known to be even stronger than the leviathan and would do wonders for his personal strength.

And then there were his recent battles he had to address to himself. It still stung when he thought about how he had been outplayed by Delor, but at the very least, he was a knight commander with a long history, and he could dismiss his tactical defeat that day as a simple lack of experience. But when his plan against the leviathan flopped, he truly felt like a failure, even though he pushed the feeling aside to focus on the fight at the time. He had to properly find a way never to allow such errors in his judgement again.

His head was beginning to hurt, thinking of the things he needed to do. Cedric had already left by now, seeing Noah in contemplation and not wanting to disturb him. Ariel had fallen asleep on her chair while the messenger read his message. Seeing her sleepy visage only made his eyelids heavier.

As he got up, he wrote down all the things he needed to do, using mana to accelerate his hand as it wrote. Done, he picked up Ariel, who had trained for the whole day and was understandably dead tired in a princess carry, then cast First Circle - Clean on her before he did it to himself. After tucking her in, he crashed beside her on the king-sized bed as well. They had a long road in front of them and could use a good bit of rest.

Before his eyes closed, he let his mind wander to the companions who had accompanied him to this world. Aside from Emma, who was with him in the Odir estate, was Mia feeling better about her arm? Could she live her life like a woman her age should? What about Evan? Had he found a peaceful life with Elara yet?

Truly, he had a lot on his plate.