I immediately asked Luna if that was true.
"Is what Darkness said true?"
"Yes, since Darkness isn't here, Kazuma's party can't be active. So I allowed it. What could go wrong? We can just say he's my boyfriend and later say we broke up, right? Please just help me."
"Well, that's true... but fine. I guess nothing will happen."
The next day, I prepared by dressing in a neat suit. Kazuma and the others decided to come along to help. They seemed more interested in having fun than helping, so I tried to refuse, but they insisted on coming, using Megumin's incident as an excuse, so I had no choice but to let them all come.
Darkness explained various things in the carriage.
"Got it? You guys just need to keep an eye on the surroundings."
"Got it."
"And since Cassian and I are lovers, I'll allow some appropriate physical contact."
"What does 'appropriate' mean?"
"I don't know either. I think we'll have to judge based on the situation."
"Wouldn't Kazuma be better for this? Why did you choose me..."
"It's because I want them to think I'm with a somewhat normal person so they'll feel relieved."
Hearing that, Kazuma glared at Darkness and said.
"Hey! Hey! So you're saying I'm not normal?"
"Well... Kazuma is quite perverted, and you speak harshly to women and have no manners. That's part of why I chose Kazuma's party and also part of your charm, but to introduce to my father, it's a bit..."
"Aren't you being too blunt? How did my image end up like this!"
Kazuma bowed his head and seemed to ponder why his image had changed like that. But in my opinion, Darkness's assessment was accurate. After all, Kazuma aims for a harem in this world and is blunt with women.
"And there's something you all need to know."
"What is it?"
Darkness blushed as if embarrassed and hesitated before speaking with difficulty.
"It's... my real name... Since we're supposed to be lovers, it would be strange if you didn't know my real name..."
I already knew from the original work, but Darkness's reaction was amusing, so I urged her to say it herself.
"That's right, what's your real name?"
"It, it's... Dustiness Ford Lalatina... Just call me Lalatina."
"Okay, Lalatina."
"Don't call me La, Lalatina now! Call me that when we get home."
Darkness was incredibly embarrassed. Honestly, I didn't understand. It wasn't such a bad name, so why was she so shy?
"Got it. Lalatina."
"Ugh! Cassian, stop calling me that."
Seeing that, Kazuma and the others started teasing Darkness too.
"Hey, hey! Miss Lalatina is really shy, huh?"
"That's right. Miss La! La! Ti! Na! Hehe~!"
As Kazuma and Aqua teased Darkness, she blushed even more and panicked.
"You, you guys are doing this too!?"
Hahaha~
Anyway, we had our strategy meeting like that and arrived at the Dustiness family mansion. The Dustiness family was quite busy. Seeing this, Darkness thought something was strange and muttered to herself.
"That's odd. They wouldn't prepare this much just because I'm bringing a boyfriend... Is something happening at home?"
Darkness quickly opened the door and went inside to find out what was going on.
"Father! What's happening?"
"Oh~ Lalatina, you're right on time! It's just that the prince and princess are coming. Since both of them have known you since childhood, they're curious about what kind of boyfriend you have and said they'd come to see. They'll be here soon."
"What??? What did you just say??????"
Darkness was very flustered and tried to quickly take us to her room without introducing us to her father. Then Darkness's father, Dustiness Ford Ignis, asked.
"That person is your boyfriend. Aren't you going to introduce..."
"Later!!"
"Oh... okay..."
When Darkness cut off Ignis's words and shouted as if telling him not to interfere, Ignis couldn't say anything. Ignis was a doting father ruled by his daughter.
We went to Darkness's room and had another meeting. I was also panicked and quickly asked Darkness.
"Hey! What are we going to do about this!"
"Sigh... I don't know either. If this fake relationship is discovered, it could be treason against the royalty and lead to execution..."
Then Kazuma said.
"Then why not just really date?"
"As you all know, I'm already married... So, how about Kazuma dating Darkness this time?"
"No. I have the right to choose who I date too."
Kazuma refused, but I tried to persuade him somehow.
"Kazuma, think about it. If things go well with Darkness and you get married, it's a chance to become a noble of this country. Plus, you said Darkness's appearance is your type."
"Now that I think about it, marrying Darkness would make me a noble of this country right away."
"Exactly!"
When I explained the advantages of dating Darkness, Kazuma thought for a bit and said with a smile.
"Then I have no choice! I'll step up!! Hahaha~! Darkness, let's have two, no three kids~"
Kazuma was persuaded and things seemed to be going well, but then Darkness made a serious face and said.
"Sorry, no... I already told them I'm with a famous adventurer, tall with silver hair."
"Huh? Really??"
Hearing that, Kazuma was very disappointed.
"But I'm already married. Besides, the prince and princess have seen me and know I'm married."
"That doesn't matter. Our kingdom allows polygamy."
"Then, what will you say to Luna?"
"That... I'll go and beg for forgiveness..."
I thought for a moment and said with a serious expression.
"Honestly, I'm seriously considering running off to another country with Luna."
Then Darkness grabbed my pants and pleaded. If that really happened, it would be the end of Darkness's family.
"Cassian, please save our family!"
Due to Darkness's desperation, I had no choice but to agree to really date and went outside. Yunyun didn't say anything, but her expression wasn't good.
"Father, this is my boyfriend, Cassian."
"Nice to meet you. I'm the adventurer Cassian."
Ignis welcomed us warmly, moved.
"Oh~ I'm glad my daughter has such a proper boyfriend."
"And these are my adventurer comrades."
Darkness introduced Kazuma and the others and Yunyun to her father.
"Nice to meet you. My daughter is always in your debt. And I look forward to your continued support."
Despite being a high noble, Ignis, Darkness's father, treated us common adventurers kindly without discrimination. There was a reason the Dustiness family was highly regarded by the people. However, Ignis's gait was awkward, and he was leaning on a cane, which seemed very uncomfortable. Using [Naked Eye] to observe, I could see he was under a curse.
"Excuse me, sir, are you feeling unwell?"
Hearing my words, Darkness was surprised. She hadn't known her father was sick until now.
"Huh? Father, is that true?"
Ignis sighed and began to explain.
"As expected, famous adventurers can't be fooled. Actually, for a few months now, my body hasn't been the same, and lately, it's hard to stand for long."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't want to worry you. That's part of why I'm hurrying your marriage."
Then I said.
"The reason you're not well isn't due to age or illness, but a curse."
"What!!?? Is that true!!??"
Darkness was so surprised she stood up and asked again.
"Yes. It seems someone cursed you, sir."
I already knew who it was. This curse was placed by Alderp to ruin the Dustiness family and take Darkness, part of his various schemes before fleeing.
"Can it be lifted?"
"We have the Arch Priest Aqua. Such a curse can be easily lifted."
Hearing my words, Aqua, who loves to show off, immediately stepped forward and said proudly.
"Hehe! It's time for this Aqua-sama to step in. Just leave it to me."
Aqua immediately used [Sacred Break Spell] to remove the curse from Ignis and [Sacred Heal] to heal his body weakened by the curse.
"Oh~ Really. I feel much better. But who would curse me like this..."
"It's probably Alderp."
"Alderp??"
At that moment, the mansion door opened and the prince and princess entered.
"We greet the prince and prin..."
We hurried to greet them, but the prince waved his hand to stop the greeting and asked us about Alderp. It seemed they had overheard our conversation from outside.
"Greetings are fine. Can you explain that story in detail?"
I explained in detail as the prince asked.
"As you know, Prince and Princess, Alderp made a deal with a demon to usurp the throne using demonic power, which has already been proven through investigation. The curse on Ignis is probably part of that. Such a powerful curse can only be explained by a demon. Besides this, we don't know how many things he did using demons before fleeing."
Hearing my words, the prince was very angry.
"That bastard Alderp!!! Doing such things while the king and I were away!!!"
I continued.
"And this is delicate to say, but Alderp's family might also be victims."
"Why is that?"
"Seeing that he had a body-swapping necklace, I suspect the current Alderp's body might have been taken over."
"Hmm... That makes sense. It could be. But fortunately, we have that item now, so he won't be switching bodies anymore. If we catch Alderp quickly, everything will be resolved."
The prince thought for a bit and made a command-like suggestion to me.
"You have very high insight and can identify curses at a glance, so for the kingdom, I want you to take on the role of temporary inspector general and inspect the nobles to root out Alderp's remnants from the kingdom."
I was a bit taken aback. Doing such work was bothersome, and it was more beneficial to take requests and gain experience quickly during that time.
"But I..."
"Ah, don't refuse. This is a crisis for the kingdom. In return, I'll ensure you're well compensated. And I'll assign capable subordinates so it won't be too hard. If the work is done, I'll support your marriage with Lalatina."
"Well... understood."
I tried to get out of it, but no other way came to mind, so I just agreed.
We had a meal at the Dustiness mansion with the prince and princess, talking about various things, but Aqua suddenly used a banquet magic show in front of the prince and princess, which was out of place, and everyone was surprised, but fortunately Princess Iris loved it so much that it passed without issue.
After the prince and princess left for the palace, Kazuma said.
"Ah~ I feel like I've finally found a true beauty."
"Huh? Who?"
"The princess. She's exactly the little sister type and a beauty, right?"
"That's true..."
As in the original, Kazuma really liked Iris. After returning home, Darkness prostrated herself before Luna and begged for forgiveness. Luna heard what happened and was dumbfounded, but since it involved royalty, she had no choice but to accept Darkness.
The next day, inspector Sena and two knights came to the house. Sena was a well-built woman with long straight black hair wearing the kingdom's inspector uniform, and when she saw me, she blushed and handed over documents.
"Inspector General, here are the documents and activity funds sent by the prince."
I took the documents from Sena and read them. Roughly, there was an appointment as inspector general, orders to inspect nobles, cooperation letters, etc.
"I see, understood. First, you must be tired from the long journey, so rest for a day and we'll depart tomorrow."
"Understood. Then I'll impose on you for a day."
In case there were curses I couldn't handle, I decided to take Aqua along, but in exchange, Yunyun stayed to work with Kazuma's party.
I, along with Aqua, Sena, and two knights, traveled around the royal capital and various places, resolving the problems Alderp had sown.
"If you leave now, you won't get the reward. Still want to go?"
"Tch! Fine!"
Aqua kept grumbling beside me, but each time, I calmed her by reminding her that she'd get a third of the reward money. Instead of investigating each person laboriously, I read memories to check only nobles with problems, so it was very fast, but since there were many nobles, it still took a lot of time.
Alderp had engaged in corruption not only in Darkness's family but in many places, and he used demons to manipulate memories, so there were quite a few things to handle. Besides Alderp's issues, during the investigation, we also uncovered various corruptions and problems of the nobles and handled them together, so it increased even more. Of course, we left minor issues and only dealt with major ones.
"As expected, there's a reason the prince chose you as inspector general. To handle what would take existing inspectors half a year in just a week, you're truly amazing."
Sena praised me daily, but I was processing work quickly, barely sleeping. I wanted to return quickly to gain experience. Because of that, Sena had no rest either. She had to write reports to send to the palace. Among us, only Aqua was lazing around every day, except when occasionally lifting curses, and she kept whining about being bored and tired.
The only saving grace was that the kingdom's mages supported us with teleportation magic, so moving didn't take much time.
"Finally, it's over."
"Yes. We've finally managed to inspect all the nobles as the prince ordered."
"Then Sena, I'll leave the follow-up to you."
"Understood."
After half a month, the work ended, and Sena and the knights returned to the palace. Aqua and I immediately returned to Axel Town.
"Phew~ Long time no see."
"Yeah, it feels like coming back after almost ten years."
It was ridiculous for Aqua, who had been going around looking for good places to eat and play, to say that, but I let it be. I went home and looked for Luna and the others after a long time.
"Huh? No one's here?"
"That's right. Are they at the guild?"
Aqua and I went to the guild to find them again, and we saw Luna sitting at the receptionist desk.
"Luna~!"
When I called Luna, she saw me, cried, quickly came out from the receptionist desk, and hugged me. I patted her back.
"Why are you so late~"
"I came back as quickly as I could. More importantly, are you okay? You're back at the guild?"
"Yes, my morning sickness has decreased a lot, so I think it's okay to work now."
"I see, that's good. Still, take care of yourself. By the way, where are Kazuma and the others?"
"They went on a request. Lately, Yunyun has been very active, you see. They said they need to work hard this time and are handling many requests."
Kazuma and the others must have been very happy that Yunyun joined their party instead of Aqua, and Kazuma was probably trying to earn a lot of money with Yunyun during this opportunity.
"I see, then Aqua and I will go home and just rest today."
"Okay. You must be tired, so get some good rest."
Aqua and I decided to go home and just laze around in bed today. When evening came, Kazuma and the others finished their requests and returned home.
"Cassian, can't we exchange Aqua for Yunyun? Please, I'm begging you!"
The first thing Kazuma said when he arrived was to exchange Aqua for Yunyun. Well, Yunyun was that capable. In the original, she was neglected, but here.
Hearing that, Aqua got very angry and said.
"What!!! So I'm not needed anymore!!!???"
"Aqua, you're comfortable with rich Cassian, right? You got a lot of reward this time, didn't you?"
"Well, that's true, but it feels like being sold off, so it's annoying!"
Yunyun also added.
"I also enjoyed working with Megumin lately, but I prefer being with Cassian."
"See? That's what I said!!"
Kazuma sighed and eventually gave up.
"Sigh... I guess there's no choice..."