NOVPUBWhen we arrived back in the Kite Kingdom, it was as I expected.
"What are you doing back here?" That question wasn't directed at me, but rather at Aisha and the elder who had come back with us.
I had kept them notified of everything that happened since I had learned my lesson from before, so they knew everything that had happened in the Elven Kingdom.
That was why they were surprised to find the new Elven Queen and the new regent of the Elven Queen visiting our kingdom.
They couldn't come back the same way as before since they now had statuses that were on a completely different scale.
For Aisha and the elder to visit us now, it was considered an international issue.
It was a matter between the Kite Kingdom and the Elven Kingdom.
But the elder solved this by saying, "I need to discuss some things with the finance minister of the Kite Kingdom. There are certain trade deals that I want to arrange with the Kite Kingdom."
Haley wasn't surprised to hear this since she already knew that this was coming because of my letters. Though she was surprised since she clearly didn't expect the elder to come to the Kite Kingdom so soon.
Still since the elder was here…
"Alright, we can talk this through."
I wanted to go with them, but I was stopped by Rose in the end.
She grabbed my shoulder and looked at me with a smile that didn't reach her eyes.
Then she looked to my side where Aisha was standing.
It was only by a small amount, but Aisha was indeed standing closer to me compared to before. It was as if there was some kind of boundary that had been broken between the two of us, which made us closer.
The look on her face made it very clear what she was asking.
But what was I supposed to tell her?
So the only thing that I could do was use action to show my intentions and I moved away from Aisha.
Aisha was going to follow, but Rose looked at her with the same smile that made her stop.
Even though Aisha was a magician that was on the same level as a sage, even though she was much stronger than Rose could ever be, it didn't seem like she wanted to push Rose.
As such, she didn't follow me as I moved away.
Only when we were some distance away did Rose look at me as if she wanted me to explain something.
"We were just pretending while we were in the Elven Kingdom. I made a deal with her that I would help her keep the elves from getting close to her for her help, but that deal is over now."
Rose narrowed her eyes to look at me before letting go of my shoulder.
However, there was still a look of warning in her eyes.
It was as if she was saying, "If you try anything…"
A trace of bitterness appeared in my eyes, but I didn't say anything in response.
I knew that there was nothing that I would be able to say to actually help me in this situation.
So the best thing that I could do was remain silent.
After a moment of silence, Rose finally let go of my shoulder and let me do what I wanted.
I didn't even look back at Aisha who I knew was still looking at me.
Instead, I headed towards the room that Haley and the elder had entered.
That was the only safe place for me.
But the moment that I entered, Haley immediately stood up and dragged me over before making me sit down next to her.
She looked at me with narrowed eyes before saying, "What did you tell her?"
"Huh?" I was very confused by this situation since I had no idea what was even going on.
Being dragged into the room and suddenly asked this question was already confusing enough, but it didn't seem like Haley was going to let me go unless I gave her the answer that she wanted.
It was just that I had no idea what answer she wanted.
So I turned to look at the elder and asked, "How far did you get?"
"We were just discussing the matter of letting tourists into the Elven Kingdom."
Haley nodded at this before saying, "Where did you come up with this idea?"
She even pressed her face even closer as if she was forcing me to give an answer.
I just awkwardly said, "I just thought of it randomly. I mean, the rich nobles all care about rare things, so it would only make sense that they would care about this as well. That was why I thought that it would work."
Haley shook her head as if she was a bit disappointed with this answer before saying, "This is a revolutionary idea. This is an idea that no one has ever thought of before and you're saying that it was a random thought? I really don't know what to say."
I didn't say anything about this.
Instead, I asked, "Then do you think that it won't work?"
Haley quickly shook her head before saying, "It'll work, it'll definitely work."
I was surprised by how much enthusiasm she had when she said this.
But the elder interrupted by asking, "How much are you thinking about charging."
Once she heard this, Haley immediately entered her business mode as she said, "That depends on a variety of things. However, based on the basics that you've told me, at least this much."
She raised two fingers after seeing this.
"Two hundred gold coins?" The elder asked with a trace of excitement.
Only Haley shook her head and said, "At least two thousand per person."
Even I was surprised by this since I didn't think that it would be worth that much.
But the elder didn't hesitate to say, "Then let's see how much we can add onto this."
Haley revealed a wide smile when she heard this.
The two of them looked like they were scheming to rip someone off.
Though in a sense, this was indeed what they were doing.
At least it seemed like elven tourism would be a thing in the future.
