575 Stone Of Heroes

I was expecting things to return back to normal but Mother told me that she would be pulling me out from the training for some time.

I figured that this was related to the Fuckface incident so I did not protest against her decision.

Speaking of which, I haven't seen that guy ever since I handed him over to Sebastian… I wonder what happened to him?

As for the other girls, they were undergoing training as usual which they seemed to have no complaints about, surprisingly.

Since I didn't really have any more training scheduled for me, I was directed to 'serve' Mother beside Mary as her personal maid.

I'm guessing they still needed me to act as Aster, a maid of the Nilm Family instead of Mother's child since that was the role I presented to those Dungeoneers.

But well… What that really meant was that I was stuck on Mother's lap while she pampered me the entire time.

"Ufufufu~ My little one certainly is the cutest~" Mother giggled, hugging me to her bosom while patting my head.

"Ngghh… Mommy… This is embarrassing…"

"Ara, ara? Didn't we used to do this all the time back then?"

"But that was when I was still small… I'm not that small anymore…"

"Ara, ara? So it's ok if my little one becomes small again?"

I felt a shiver down my spine, "Erm… Mommy isn't going to transform me to a smaller size are you?"

"Ufufufu~ Only if my little one wants to~"

As much as I was curious how that might work, I decided that this might be a dangerous line of thought to go down on so I'll have to say no for now…

"Here's some cookies, my dear~" Mother offered, literally pulling it out from her bosom.

Yayyyy!! Cookies! Me want! Nom nom~ Mmmm~ It's warm~

Right then, I heard Mary's voice coming from the side, "Madam, they are here."

"Ara, ara? They're faster than I thought~ Tell them to wait outside until my little one has finished her cookie."

"Of course, Madam."

Hmm? What did I miss? Oh whatever, cookies first~ Om nom nom nom~

*

I stood diagonally behind Mother as three Rejmars entered the room.

Mary was standing on her other side while Mother was wearing her [Mask of Impossible Identity].

These Rejmars seemed to be rather important people with how they were carrying themselves. If I had to guess, they give off the air of diplomats.

Honestly, I'm surprised they were even here… It's only been about a day since I had came back after all, which meant they only knew about Fuckface's capture for three days if you were to start counting from our departure from the Dungeon.

The lead Rejmar bowed, "Greetings Madam Nilm, I am--"

Mother waved her hand at him ,"I don't care who you are, so you can just get to the point. I have something much more important to do than just entertaining you."

Oh wow, Mother seemed to be quite pissed for some reason… And this wasn't just her putting on airs but she was actually quite upset.

Did these guys do something to her? I mean… She was still all smiles when I was cuddling on her lap just now until I had to get off when they came in…

The lead Rejmar shuddered from Mother's words and lowered his head, "My apologies. We are here to receive the traitor known as Dorain from you and reward the one responsible for his capture."

Mother then waved at me and I stepped forward like she had instructed me to do before these Rejmars arrived.

Obviously she wanted me to take credit for the capture of that guy which was why I'm here.

Mother then gestured to me, "She was the one who dealt with your little traitor."

The lead Rejmar then turned to me and bowed, "We thank you, dear hero. Without your help, we would have lost hundreds of capable Dungeoneers and we might even be facing another repeat of the disaster this traitor had caused. Please accept this small token of our gratitude."

He then turned to one of the other Rejmars and took what looked like some kind of stone carving from him before presenting it to me.

"This is proof of your status as a hero to our people. With this token, you and your companions can pass through any of our tunnels and gates without needing to pay any fees and also receive priority passage through them. You will also be treated as an honorary citizen of our Kingdom."

I gasped, "Isn't this a big thing? And are you sure? Couldn't this be abused by anyone who gets a hold of it?"

The Rejmar pursed his lips at me, "Dear hero… You managed to fight through the Dungeon that had trapped several hundreds of our top ranked Dungeoneers and even fought through the hordes of Shadow Devourers that form the ranks of the traitor's army. From the accounts of the eye witnesses, you were also able to do it without much assistance as well. Of course if it was revealed that you are abusing this privilege, it will be revoked. But our council has determined that your accomplishments have fulfilled the requirements to grant you such a privilege."

I could tell that this Rejmar in particular probably didn't agree with the council's decision to give me this reward but it was not his place to protest against it.

I'm more surprised that this decision was reached this quickly because I'm sure something like this would normally take weeks or months to decide. I guess the reward had already been decided beforehand in case someone actually does bring Fuckface in.

Honestly, I don't really mind accepting this because it just means that I would have an easier time exploring the Frostiminir Kingdom once I set out on my own.

"How many people currently hold such an item?" I asked.

"As of now, counting dear hero, there are around a hundred other individuals who also hold this honour."

Oh, ok. That means it's not that rare so it should be fine.

I mean sure, a hundred out of the entire kingdom is still definitely a small number, but at least it's common enough that people won't pay as much attention if there were only… Say… Five people who have it.

He was still holding out the stone carving to me so I went up to him and accepted it.

"Umm… Is that all? I don't need to attend some kind of elaborate ceremony or anything, do I?"

He raised an eyebrow at me, "There is one… Though you're not required to attend it. It's just carving your name on the stone of heroes… You could go and attend the carving if you want though…"

I could tell that he definitely did not want me to attend for some reason.

But there was something else I was worried about.

"Eh? Wait… So all of you know my name?"

"Yes. You've given them your name, haven't you? It's Aster. Ah… Forgive me… Hero Aster…"

Ok, so it's just my name and not my family name. Good enough I suppose.

I won't question what would happen if more than one Aster appeared in the World and how they would differentiate which Aster it was.

Though I suppose if I was careless enough to lose this to another person named Aster then I probably don't deserve to have it in the first place.

"Umm… I'm fine then. I can't exactly leave Mo… Ahem… The Madam's side."

Mother was giggling behind me without even trying to hide the fact that she was giggling.

The three Rejmars glanced at her but quickly shifted their gazes back to me as though they had just seen something they shouldn't.

I was tempted to look behind as well but I managed to refrain myself from doing so.

The lead Rejmar bowed his head, "In that case, I now proclaim you as Hero Aster of the Frostiminir Kingdom and afford you all the privileges that the title brings. May your beard… Ahem… May you stand strong and steady as the mountains and may our God Ralaie bless you."

The other two Rejmars behind him bowed as well before the three of them turned and left, almost like they were running away

I looked down at the token they had given me and it showed a fist lifting a hammer into the air. The carving itself seemed to be made with some kind of prismatic stone which was a material that I had not seen before.

I tried to use [Screened] on it.

[Prismatic Stone of Heroes - A token to signify the bearer as one of the heroes of the Rejmar people.]

Ok, that's cool.

I was just thinking whether it would be better for me to keep this token on my body or store it in my Pack of Folding when Mother appeared and lifted me up from behind.

"Mo… Mommy?" I gasped, right as she turned around to bring me back to her seat to cuddle.

"Ufufufu~ Now that the distractions are gone, we can continue what we were doing~ Do you want more sweets, my little one? Mama made some pudding for you~"

Was this the 'more important thing' she was referring to when she was talking to those Rejmar earlier?

Oh whatever, I get pudding! Gimme gimme!! Om nom nom nom~